CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ― A prosecutor said Wednesday that he found no evidence of excessive force or racism by officers involved in the arrest of a University of Virginia student who was bloodied and pinned to the ground in an incident that drew widespread attention.
Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman said Wednesday that he would not have hesitated to charge any of the three state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents involved in detaining Martese Johnson had he believed the incident was malicious or racially motivated. Johnson, who is Black, could be heard on video recordings that circulated widely on social media calling the officers “(expletive) racists.”
“That is powerful language directed at them and they don’t respond to it,” Chapman said of the three ABC agents. “They are staying on point ― ‘stop resisting’ and things to that effect.”
He said the officers could have used much stronger measures to counter “very significant physical resistance” by Johnson, but they linked two handcuffs together rather than twist his arm more forcefully and perhaps risk an injury other than the head gash he sustained when his head struck the sidewalk.
On the other hand, Chapman said he could understand why Johnson reacted as he did when officers grabbed his arm to question him about why he was turned away from a bar after showing his ID.
“My feeling is this gentleman is not doing anything wrong and he ends up on the ground with his head banged,” the prosecutor said.
Chapman, who dropped two misdemeanor charges against Johnson last week, said “it would have been poor use of my authority and discretion” to prosecute the Chicago student.
