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| Just a suggestion: If you are an ATF or ABC employee then on your off time, take a look at the myriad of bottled waters and sodas available so that you don't inadvertently pull a gun and make a total ass of yourself attacking a student for purchasing sparkling water marked PURE. (Above is an actual box of the sparkling water in question.) |
There are signs of tyranny in American government from the top all the way down now. The case of Brandon Raub and Eilleen Hart are just two. This is what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia on April 11, 2013.
Elizabeth Daly, a twenty year old University of Virginia student, and her two roommates made a brief trip by car to the Harris Teeter grocery store at Barracks Road in Charlottesville. It's a nice neighborhood and it should be safe. Daly brought bottled water and some cookie dough ice cream. On the way to her car Daly and her friends were accosted by three people. One pulled a gun and another jumped upon her car hood. They mistakenly thought that her expensive bottled water was beer or liquor. Elizabeth and her friends sped away and called police. Unfortunately for them, the three were apparently inept ATF agents who had failed to identify themselves to the girls. Some newspapers quote that these were Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) agents. Was this a joint operation between both groups ? Is this why so many of them went in plain clothes to harass twenty year olds ? When Elizabeth pulled over she was arrested and charged with two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and one count of eluding police They also broke Ms. Daly's SUV windows.. She was jailed for a couple of days. She and her friends were terrified. Some accounts indicated that there were seven men and that they all spoke at once and that the girls understood only that this was an attempted abduction or robbery.
First of all, if you are inept enough that you can't tell the difference between the lovely array of bottled waters and their packaging, and beer, and this is your full time job, then you need to be removed from your post. Secondly, what happened to showing a badge and identifying yourself as a law enforcement officer ? Third, the girls did exactly what they should have done. This is only a block from where Morgan Harrington was abducted and then later found murdered. This is also the same location in which a young woman entered the Harris Teeter only to find the serial rapist whose picture had been up everywhere in Central Virginia, spraying vegetables in the produce department. (He has since been convicted and jailed.)
There are two men on the Richmond Charlottesville corridor who are pretending to be police, one in an attempt to abduct women, and one who robs people when he gets them to pull over. These young women should get medals for successfully eluding law enforcement who did not correctly identify themselves ! These young women thought they were about to be abducted ! They are traumatized and terrified.
Of course when the prosecutor found that the witnesses corroborated what the girls had said, the charges are said to have been dropped. I want more than the charges against Miss Daly dropped. They owe her more than a half gallon of melted ice cream and cookie dough ! In addition, I don't want to shop anywhere where ATF pulls weapons on people to check water.
Once again, law enforcement does not understand that they are there as public servants. You are there to keep the citizenry safe, not to harass and attack young girls who were buying things for a fundraiser. You just attacked the best and the brightest of our region. Don't be surprized when they become lawyers, physicians, and other professionals who don't have respect or time for the federal government or for local law enforcement. I hope these agents lose their jobs, and I hope ATF takes a good long look at their policies and procedures. Who is going to pay Miss Daly's legal fees ? What about the PTSD every time she sees a law enforcement officer ? What about her arrest record which could prevent her from holding some professional licenses or security clearances ? Sounds like this young woman and her roommates are due quite a bit of money.
My anger does not apply to my friends who are both federal and state law enforcement. They are just as outraged about this as I am. If this is what happened to three girls who bought sparkling water, imagine what would have happened had they bought Fresca ! It's even too horrible to imagine !
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/06/abc-arrest-watertoting-uva-student-under-review
http://www.policemisconduct.net/
http://www.libertariannews.org/2013/06/29/police-arrest-girl-at-gunpoint-over-bottled-water/
http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/student-charged-for-mistaking-plain-clothed-agents-as-attackers/
12 comments:
I've always said that half the people wearing badges not only shouldn't be allowed to carry guns, they actually belong on the OTHER side of the iron bars.
Oh my gosh Jane.
Of course, this story never made it to the mainstream media. Those guys should be made to buy her snacks for a year as well as paying her legal fees. Hopes she seeks justice.
I presume they thought the girls were underage to be buying contraband at Harris Teeter. But SEVEN ATF guys! What a waste of tax payer money.
Yes, the same is true of a fair number of prison guards. Every once in a while we had a patient in ICU from a prison. The prisoners were always reasonable (and of course they are shakled to the bedrails anyway, so they didn't have much choice AND they were critically ill) but the two guards were everything from argumentative and disagreeable to abusive.
This story made it to mainstream news for both NBC affiliates in Charlottesville and in Richmond, VA. It did not go national. It may though, and I expect Glenn Beck will pick it up next week also.
We heard on the news several months ago that the ATF would be infiltrating bars in Charlottesville looking for underage drinking. They didn't say they would be accosting students buying non alcoholic drinks too ! Once again, another egregious waste of taxpayer money. I am sick and tired of paying estimated taxes in order to pay the salaries of ATF agents with such a broad level of incompetence !
Jane, the country gets the level of incompetence it deserves. Look at the top and the graft and corruption there. No wonder the standards are spiraling downward!
I don't drink or purchase beer. I rarely buy even a single bottle of water, yet with cataracts, I can read this is water--sparkling water.
These agents must have invented their own new 'shock and awe' and tried it out on a girl barely out of her teens. Given what you say about crime in the area, I can imagine they would be terrified. Yet, they eluded 7 grown men with guns and training.
I saw this earlier on the internet. I did not see the 5 and 6 o'clock news or the national news today, so I have no idea whether it made the news or not.
Yes, and sadly, it's quite pervasive. It's so bad that the good police, the good civil servants and the decent government employees want to leave, and when they do, they become survivalists !
Unbelievable. Isn't it ?
Jane, this is incredible! What inept and insane behavior on the part of our
ATF agents.
The young women who withstood this miscarriage of justice should be given restitution, and the "record" of Miss Daly expunged.
In the day and age we live in her actions were completely justified-had she been my daughter I would have applauded her and made certain that heads would roll and her good name cleared of all charges!
It's terrifying. Virginia is very much the home of many who contributed and signed the Constitution. First, we have the Brandon Raub case in Chesterfield, which was facilitated by the federal government, and now we have the Daly case. It seems as if the Constitution is being put out to pasture, and that the feds and local government can do what they want.
As for listening to all our calls and e-mails, what exactly are we protecting now. The Land of the free and home of the brave seems passe, at least to the Obama Regime.
Jane,
I hate to bring it down to dirt (or road) level). My cousin has been a registered & trained truck driver for many years. He has seen various companies he worked for (he's now self employed because of this) "train" new drivers for a period of less than 2 weeks, then "let them go" hauling who knows what without valid training (or supervision for that matter).
It's one of the main reasons why we don't travel Interstates unless absolutely necessary. I am more afraid while driving on the Interstate than a 'back road' any day.
It's the untrained that will cause so many problems both nationally & locally.
Yes, poor training is much more common than it used to be. When I was in college becoming a nurse we did extra clinical so that we all could check of having done a particular procedure more than 20 or thirty times before becoming a registered nurse. Now, some nurses do procedures formerly reserved for physicians and they may or may not be trained as well as they need to be to be adjusting lines in people's hearts !
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