The University of Virginia student who was brutally arrested earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the state liquor agents responsible for the horrible incident.
According to the Guardian, Martese Johnson, filed a $3 million lawsuit against the state liquor agents.
In the lawsuit, Johnson claims that the Alcohol Beverage Control state agency used unlawful detention and excessive force during his unjust arrest in March.
A video which showed the 20-year-old being tackled by an officer went viral and gained national attention after Johnson was denied entry into a UVA bar during St. Patrick’s Day over a suspicious fake identification card. Further investigation revealed the ID was real.
When Johnson proceeded to walk away from the bar, he was stopped by agents Jared Miller, Thomas Custer, and John Cielakie and thrown to the ground prior to being shackled.
Johnson released the following statement to The Guardian:
“I’m uncomfortable with the idea of these officers patrolling the area where I will have to live for another year. And if a person is slammed into the ground and has to get stitches – that an innocent person is treated in this way – there should be some repercussions or some punishment and changes to ensure it does not happen in the future.”
Even after seeing the horrific video, the Virginia department felt that the officers were innocent of any wrongdoing and cleared the agents in August.
But Johnson, an honor student who is finishing his last year at the university feels that he must set an example and seek justice. He recently spoke with Vanity Fair saying:
“These officers would probably never admit to being racist, and it is because they truly believe that they are not,” he writes. “Still, their inclination to police a black male more violently than a white male conveys a different message. The officers did not see a University of Virginia student out with his peers; they saw a young black male with a high-top fade, a gold chain, some tennis shoes, and a hoodie. In their minds, I could not possibly have been a member of the “community” that they had sworn to protect.”
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