University of Virginia student injured during arrest 'could have been Obama'

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/19/university-virginia-students-martese-johnson-rally

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The student who sustained a bloody head wound as he was arrested by alcohol control officers at the University of Virginia on Wednesday morning “could easily have been any of us, including a young President Obama”, a university official told the Guardian.

Martese Johnson, 20, was seen pouring blood on to the sidewalk as three enforcement agents pinned him down to arrest him, prompting outrage on campus and all the way to the office of Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, who asked for a state police investigation, which began on Wednesday.

The student’s mother and brother were flown in from the family’s hometown of Chicago on Wednesday to be with Johnson, who was given 10 stitches in his head in hospital after being arrested for obstructing justice and being drunk in public.

But the handsome African American student with a place on the UVA honor committee put Dr Maurice Apprey, the UVA dean of African American Affairs, in mind of a similar young man from Chicago who studied at Columbia and Harvard universities in the 80s: Barack Obama.

Although there is no record of the president ever being drunk in public or being arrested, he has admitted to smoking marijuana, and in other crises involving young black men, such as the shooting of Trayvon Martin, he has made parallels to how it could have been his own family facing allegedly racially motivated violence.

Johnson accused the three white officers who arrested him of being racist and Apprey said: “I expect there will always be a return of history, and the violence of racism, we are in a national crisis, but in the local context I was surprised.”

He said race relations on campus varied but were generally cordial.

The resonance of the images of the bright young Johnson with the famous pictures of a young Obama at Columbia before he rose to be America’s first black president were evocative, Apprey agreed.

The investigation by the state police into the conduct of the alcohol beverage control (ABC) enforcement officers who arrested Johnson early on Wednesday could be extended to examine the conduct of the department more widely to see if there were “institutional problems”, a source in the state administration told the Guardian.

Meanwhile, a senior source at the university said officials were working behind the scenes to get the charges against Johnson dropped.

University president Teresa Sullivan called McAuliffe on Wednesday within hours of pictures emerging of Johnson pinned and bleeding profusely on the ground, requesting a full investigation.

Such prompt action at that high level is unprecedented, the university source said.

“I’m optimistic that the charges will be dropped. In fact, the charges should really be the other way around, this young man was assaulted,” the source said.

Massive demonstrations dominated the Charlottesville campus on Wednesday evening as Johnson, Sullivan and students converged to express outrage and concern about the way the student was arrested.

Johnson had been pinned to the ground by three white officers in the early hours of Wednesday morning and – bleeding from a head wound university officials say he sustained as his head was pushed to the pavement during the arrest – shouted that he was a student and accused the officers of being racist.

McAuliffe was concerned as the head of state government but also “as a father of five, with a couple of kids this age”, said Brian Coy, the governor’s spokesman.

“He saw those pictures and had the same concerned reaction that many Virginians did,” Coy said, referring to pictures of Johnson with blood running over his face and spattering on the ground as agents tried to handcuff him.

“He wants some answers,” said Coy.

The Virginia ABC is a state agency that is responsible for licensing and regulating alcohol sales throughout the commonwealth of Virginia. Enforcement duties include monitoring bars and stores for sales of alcohol to people younger than 21.

Agents regularly patrol a strip of bars near the UVA campus in Charlottesville nicknamed “the corner” by students.

ABC agents have been accused of being overly aggressive before and McAuliffe and senior officials want close scrutiny, according to the source.

“The governor wants to make sure we are pursuing ABC and if there is an indication of more institutional problems he will not hesitate to pursue that,” the source said.

In 2013 department officers were found to have violated policy after an incident where UVA student Elizabeth Daly, 20, was arrested by gun-waving agents who surrounded her car in plain clothes during a botched sting operation when they were trying to catch people buying alcohol underage – and mistook a batch of bottled water that she had bought for beer.

Daly sued for $40m and the lawsuit was settled last summer for $212,500.

Johnson’s lawyer Daniel Watkins said his client was “devastated” by his experience at the hands of the agents.

Johnson appeared at the demonstration on Wednesday night with visible bruising to his face and, according to witnesses, began to cry as the huge crowd cheered its support.

He called on the crowd to “respect each other”.

UVA president Sullivan reportedly told the rally she was upset by what she had seen in a cellphone video that appeared to show Johnson during the arrest.

“I hate anything bad happening to any of my students … My heart went out to him,” she said.

In an earlier statement, Sullivan said she had contacted McAuliffe’s office and asked him to have the state intervene and initiate an inquiry.

Johnson had been arrested outside a bar, apparently after his ID was rejected and he was asked to step aside and talk to agents from the Virginia ABC, who were on the scene at “the corner” in Charlottesville.

Dramatic pictures show Johnson pinned to the ground by officers, blood covering his face and spattered on the ground.

A video posted on the student newspaper website appears to show Johnson, who is black, being restrained by three white law enforcement agents as he shouts: “I go to UVA, I go to UVA. How did this happen, you fucking racists?”

Johnson has been charged with obstruction of justice and public intoxication and will appear in court on 26 March.

A statement from Virginia ABC said: “In the course of an arrest being made, the arrested individual sustained injuries. The individual received treatment for his injuries at a local hospital and was released.”