Agents draw gun on college girl over suspected beer buy — that was water

Agents with Virginia’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control drew a gun and stormed the SUV of a 20-year-old college girl who had dropped her grocery store purchases in the trunk — bottled water, cookie dough and ice cream.

The agents thought she had illegally purchased a six-pack of beer, The Charlottesville Daily Progress reported.

“They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened as they were not in anything close to a uniform,” said University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly in a written account of the incident. One agent even jumped on top of her hood and drew a gun, she said.

In panic, she tried to drive away, The Blaze reported.

“I couldn’t put my windows down unless I started by car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were … terrified,” she said, recounting in The Daily Progress how she then dialed 911 as she pulled from the parking lot.

She only stopped when an agent pulled behind her, with lights and sirens flashing — and, after she realized the agents were duly appointed officers of the law, apologized several times, The Blaze reported. She was charged with two felony counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer anyway; her car, officers charged, brushed by two agents while she was pulling from the parking lot. She was also charged with a felony for eluding police and spent the night in jail.

Her charges — which stemmed from the April incident – were dropped last week. Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman said the case was one for the record books.

In his 34 years of service, he said, he had never seen such an aggressive case.

“It wouldn’t be the right thing to do to prosecute this,” he said, as The Blaze reported.

ABC officials are standing by their agents, however. A spokeswoman said that the agency would investigate but that the agents’ actions seemed logical.

The female agent noticed “what appeared to be an underage person in possession of what appeared to be a case of beer” and acted accordingly, said spokeswoman Kathleen Shaw, The Blaze reported.