National
U.Va. Bar: Black Student Denied Entry Not ‘Belligerent’
In this photo provided by Bryan Beaubrun, Martese Johnson is held down by an officer Wednesday, March 18, 2015, in Charlottesville, Va. Court records show that Johnson was charged with obstruction of justice without force and public swearing or intoxication. The Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is calling for an investigation into the arrest of the student. (AP Photo/Bryan Beaubrun)
Michael Winter, USA TODAY
(USA Today)—The 20-year-old black University of Virginia student bloodied by alcohol-control officers outside a bar last week was denied entry after a “polite and cordial” conversation because he named the wrong ZIP code for the address on the Illinois license he presented, the pub says.
The state police and Alcoholic Beverage Control officials are investigating the arrest of Martese Johnson, which triggered campus protests and allegations of racial profiling and police brutality.
Johnson “did not appear to be intoxicated in the least” and simply walked off after being turned away, the Trinity Irish Pub said in a statement released Saturday night. It called reports that bar staff were “belligerent” toward Johnson or that he was belligerent to management “patently untrue.”
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