Racial tensions are flaring at the University of Virginia after 20 year old Martese Johnson had his head slammed to the concrete by ABC agents over ID discrepancy

Students and administrators are condemning the actions of Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control agents Wednesday morning, when a 20 year old Black honors student was arrested for public swearing/intoxication and obstruction of justice and left beaten and bloodied by the agents.

Martese Johnson was trying to gain entry into the Trinity Irish Pub around 12:45 am when he was denied. It is still unclear why he was arrested for those particular offenses, however, in a statement issued by UVA’s Black Student Alliance of which Martese is the leadership development chair, it says that even though he did not question or resist arrest, he was still “flung to the ground” with the agents’ knees pinning him down.

In a statement from the Va. Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, it states,

“The uniformed ABC Agents observed and approached the individual after he was refused entry to a licensed establishment. A determination was made by the agents to further detain the individual based on their observations and further questioning.”

Johnson, who is also a member of the school’s Honor Committee and the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, has already retained legal representation. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has asked the state police to investigate the incident.

-Sha Be Allah(@KingPenStatus)