Screwball cop comedy inappropriate

What an article [July 2, "Terror at Harris Teeter: Indignation rises over ABC underage drinking op"].
What an unbelievable outrage. It sounds like some sort of cop-buddy-screw-up alleged comedy— was Will Farrell there?

Poor Elizabeth Daly and her friends— I hope they sue somebody. There was no excuse for how this went down— none.

First of all, these so-called officers should never have confronted three young women at their car, in a parking lot, after dark. The women acted in their best defense to what appeared to be a gang of threatening individuals. We've all heard the stories— parking lots, whether indoors or outdoors, are prime hunting grounds.

If these overzealous agents had handled this with any amount of basic common sense, they would have approached the young women in front of the Harris Teeter as they were exiting the store, before they got to their car. Did these people have someone inside the store monitoring potential underage purchasers of alcohol, or were they skulking around in the parking lot? Geez, a kid could figure out a better plan—the whole issue could have been resolved in about two minutes. Disgusting abuse of power.

Back to the young women. Charlottesville, once number one best city, is also home to a serial rapist, who went free for seven years or more— and who just happened to be employed at that very same Harris Teeter where this incident occurred. Furthermore, there is the terrible and unsolved case of Morgan Harrington, the murder of Yeardley Love, and who knows how many other attacks against young women around the University and other areas of Charlottesville. I can only imagine how I would have felt in the situation in which these young women found themselves.

It's about time the various policing authorities in this area clean up their assorted acts and start catching real criminals and stop terrorizing law-abiding citizens. Underage drinking has been an issue in this university town since forever. Yes, it needs to be dealt with, but not in the way it was done in this situation.

I sincerely hope these young women have excellent legal representation. They were unnecessarily traumatized. Perhaps a lawsuit will cause the authorities to rethink their knee-jerk reactions and poorly thought out 'stings.'

Claire Tieder
Charlottesville

17 comments

Claire, I am going to say this one more time.... the main intent of these ABC sting operations is to catch the stores who are repeatedly and habitually selling alcohol to underage kids. There are many stores in Charlottesville and Albemarle County who have over the years established a reputation of underage alcohol sales to underage kids. Most of the time it simply involves the clerk not taking time to check a purchaser's identification and age. The ABC agents obviously can not let the stores know they are outside watching, they would never catch anybody if they did. To actually catch an underage kid exit the store with illegally purchased alcohol is a secondary effect. Sometimes the kids might get charged too, sometimes not. The stores on the other hand are always charged.

How'd they know Daly was underage in the first place? Were they checking license plate databases all over the lot? Even while cars were parked? Stop spying on us.

> Claire, I am going to say this one more time.... the main intent of these ABC sting operations is to catch the stores who are repeatedly and habitually selling alcohol to underage kids.

Shut the heck up. Seriously. I'm sick of seeing you shill for the cops 24/7. You might not be part of the problem but your meek rolling over for the State no matter the outrage is part of the problem. Sadly, your attitude is shared by too many Americans.

It makes no difference what their intention was. If we give a pack of brainless apes guns, badges and the power of the State, we get this particular situation and worse:

http://www.policemisconduct.net

The policing power and the policing agencies of Virginia need to brought up to the 21st century and removed from the assumptions of the early 20th century.

Without question, Ms. Daly and her friends were harmed. There are so many unanswered questions including were the ladies searched, was the vehicle searched, were they handcuffed or other wise restrained, if so, how long.

What we will never know is when did the wheels in Richmond learn about the event. Certainly, if two agents were "assaulted" the enforcement management must have been notified. ABC will stall and stonewall until the public loses interest. They will report that they "took appropriate administrative action". I'll bet you my case of Gin to your case of water that no action will be taken against ABC Chairman Insley or any of his command staff.

ABC will settle with Daly. That settlement will cost the citizens of the Commonwealth, but you will never know how much.

Gorp, you are so wrong it's pathetic. Many cops would call me a cop's worst enemy. After three decades in law enforcement, I actually ended up suing a dozen cops for wrongful actions near the end of my career. My criminal, traffic and civil record are spotless, yet they tried their best to put me in jail. Every lawsuit I filed paid up because they didn't the public to see the facts about what this handful had tried to do to me. Thank God I had a fine group of judges standing behind me who didn't buy into all their lies under path. You don't need to preach to me about bad cops.

I think the recent ABC three ring circus was atrocious! All I was explaining is the intent of the ABC Board in these sting operations.

corrections

"because they didn't want the public to see ......"

"judges who didn't buy into all their lies under oath!"

Gorp, you shut the heck up. It's attitudes like that (calling the police brainless apes) that turns them against the people, makes them think we don't appreciate the many good things they do. If you think name calling is productive then you're the brainless ape.

Jeezus. Now I have to be all sensitive about the feelings of our public employees? Where's the sensitivity been for Elizabeth Daly's feelings from the cops or the DA's office for three months?

Good, professional cops, like any professional in any field, aren't offended by honest, heartfelt criticism of their lesser peers. Not all cops are brainless thugs, by any stretch. But because of the nature of the job, it attracts more than its share of them. I'd like to think that the police systems of Virginia and the US are evolving such that good cops are able to weed out the apes or at least train them to be human beings before they send them into the street, but judging by how this whole mess has been handled from its creation until now, I dunno.

More guardians, less warriors, perhaps?:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021389398_policeacademyxml.html

GSOE, the "intention" of the ABC Board is meaningless if Elizabeth's situation is a result.

Sorry to disappoint you Gorp but the only weeding they're doing (aside from the obvious) is this kind

http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836

@ Gorf July 19th, 2013 | 11:02am

The link is unbelievable. Thank you for sharing it, Speaks for it's self. Wonder how Gas Bag scored? Maybe he can incorporate the test scores into his looking back at his illustrious carrier.

Michael, I happen to agree with the courts and the link. But I have a different take on it though. I think it's the reason we see so much police brutality nowadays. Back about the same time departments started looking for and hiring college degree cops is the same time they started having to hire "small" cops who couldn't handle themselves in hand to hand combat. This trend continues. A sheriff I was working for at the time it took place told me he would terminate 3 deputies if they were at a disorder and had to shoot and kill a man holding a pitchfork. I of course wasn't at the pitchfork event, so I don't know if I agree with the sheriff or not right now. Rumor is the suspect was shot and killed because one of the rookies had gotten too close to the guy with the pitchfork. Again, I don't know, I wasn't there. In my early career I had the opportunity to shoot and kill on 2 different occasions. Once a man had climbed a tree with a .308 rifle pointed down at us. We talked him out of the tree, we didn't shoot first and dream up justification later. Then we had to circle a man holding a revolver and talk him down emotionally. All he needed was somebody to talk to. It took 45 minutes in five degree weather. We didn't shoot and kill first and ask questions later. All I know is the fact that there's 2 men alive today because we slowed down, thought quick, talked fast and handled the situations without shooting first and chanting out loudly "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6" while the coroner packaged the warm bodies. I don't know if this means my IQ is lower than average, average, or above average. You tell me?

When you think it can't get any worse, you learn ABC paid $750,000 for a "Party Bus".

See Daily Progress Site http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/abc-s-k-mobile-command-unit-loaded-wit...

When asked why, the response is it was needed and no taxpayer money was used. Maybe they should have used some of that money for constitutional law training and maybe sponsor some "That Back the Night" sessions.

This seems to be not just our problem.

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/a/SB100014241278873238488045786080407805199...

Forfeiture money should go into the state's general fund not to the same dept that seizes it (after reading the ABC bus story). I wouldn't advise guys (particularly African American guys) to be like Daly and pull away from officers (if you are not sure about their badges, or who they are), African American guys better not sideswipe them on your way out like Daly either).

You guys have a good point. There are bigger fish to fry than underage drinkers.

I Googled Morgan Harrington again tonight, hoping that maybe, hopefully, they'd made at least one arrest to get the ball rolling. You know why? One of the men who was seen that night and most likely an accomplice in that murder (one of the men in that car from New Jersey) had started stalking me at least 10 years before Morgan Harrington disappeared. Yes, I reported him to the police and FBI over and over again years before the abduction, and of course they didn't do anything. There's more to that story -- he's a government employee and I don't think that feds like to arrest other feds.

But you know why I'm Googling Morgan Harrington tonight, of all nights? There's been a man who looks like that stalker/probable killer hanging around the place I'm staying now, and when he appears, occasionally my air conditioner smells like someone urinated into it. That only seems to happen when he's around. That and screws being driven into my tires to give me slow leaks.

Of course he hasn't broken in yet, because he knows I'd call the cops and/or shoot him if given cause. But I really look forward to when they arrest those creeps. ANY of those creeps. And this isn't in Virginia, by the way. He's stalked me in Virginia since the year 2000, but he's from the New York/New Jersey area.

As if I didn't have enough to do, now I have to think about whether this is serious enough to contact the FBI AGAIN about him. And the urine, the tires -- that's not even 1% what this guy does. He's totally sick in the head. I can't tell you everything he's done through the years because it would take me a few weeks to type it all up. And if he's involved in the Harrington murder (I'm personally sure that he is, but of course they have to prove it in court), remember that he's only an accomplice. He's not even on the wanted poster.

Not sure if this one's related, but the murders of petite blonde females continue:

http://www.wisn.com/news/south-east-wisconsin/ozaukee-washington/father-...

Well, problem is Morgan was not murdered. Cuz LE says so, don't mean it happened. There are literally millions of times the FBI lied or arrested innocent people.

We have courts. The WOMAN, not a girl may very well have been involved in a homicide. Suicide, the slow killing of ones self through drugs and depression is homicide.

If someone jumps off of a cliff, that suicide. If someone is pushed off a cliff it is homicide. If someone falls of a cliff and they are chemically saturated that is homicide.

There is no murder weapon, no witnesses, no sperm or bodily fluids. Only 3 hairs. That's it. She was at a concert with at least 13,000 people. There was also more than 4 other people's DNA. The 4 others did not have a match.

She was not abducted on or near a bridge. She left voluntarily, the two people she first encountered were not the last to be with her. So, Morgan related to this topic is only something said to get people to look.

Thats all.

Morgan has nothing to do with ABC.
Nothing at all!