Virginia Senator Seeks Removal Of Alcohol Officers’ Power In Aftermath Of UVA Black Student Beating

Mar 20, 2015 09:12 AM EDT

(Photo : The Cavalier Daily) The arrest of University of Virginia student Martese Johnson, which Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe ordered investigated.

Virginia Senator A. Donald McEachin sought the removal of powers of alcohol officers in the state in light of the "beating like a dog" that Martese Johnson, a 20-year-old black student at the University of Virginia (UVA) took on Wednesday morning.

Johnson had bruises on his face and was bloodied. He needed 10 stitches on the head after the alcohol officers arrested him outside a Charlottesville pub.

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The senator, an alumni of UVA law school, points out that the alcohol officers charged Johnson with obstruction of justice without force, which confirms the posts on social media that he did not resist when officers arrested him for Johnson to deserve the treatment he got for being "black."

"So the question becomes, 'Why is this young man prostrate on a Charlottesville sidewalk beaten like a dog," asked McEachin who is of African-American descent. Johnson was showing them his Illinois ID when the officers grabbed him by the neck and on a hard brick surface in front of the pub.

Marcus Martin, vice president for diversity of UVA said that breathalyzer tests indicate that Johnson was not intoxicated when he was arrested by the alcohol officers. The officers involved have been restricted to administrative duties now.

He and Maurice Apprey, UVA dean of African-American Affairs, expressed outrage at the brutality experienced by Johnson in the hands of the alcohol officers.

This is not the first time that an UVA student was arrested by alcohol officers. In 2013, the officers even had a drawn gun when they arrested white student Elizabeth Daly. The alcohol cops thought her box of distilled water was beer. Daly filed a $40 million lawsuit, but she eventually agreed for a settlement of $212,000.

Col. W. Steen Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent, said in a statement, "We owe it both Mr. Johnson and the Virginia ABC to be painstakingly thorough in determining the facts of the situation through interviews, evidence collection and analysis, and investigative procedure," quotes Detroit News.