Crime & Safety
Undercover Stings Under Fire: Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control to Review Officer Policies
After arrest of University of Virginia student who was buying a case of water, how Virginia ABC goes after underage purchases could change.
Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control officials will review their policies after a 20-year-old buying bottled water was accosted by agents who thought she was buying beer, the Daily Progress reports.
The University of Virginia student was buying a 12-pack of sparkling water and leaving the Charlottesville grocery store when ABC agents approached her out of uniform, the progress reports.
The student, Elizabeth Daly, panicked and drove off because she did not recognize the agents as officers, the newspaper reported. The woman was initially charged with three felonies, but those charges were later dropped.
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ABC regulators may start requiring a uniformed police officer to accompany plainclothes officers during these operations to nab underage drinkers, the Washington Post reports.
The incident prompted phone calls, tweets, and emails of complaint to ABC headquarters in Richmond.
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