“Mr. Johnson has a court date on Thursday March 26 at 10am, at which he will enter a plea of not guilty,” Beckner said in the statement on Monday.
Early on Wednesday, Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) special agents and local policemen arrested 20-year-old Johnson for public intoxication and obstruction of justice outside of a local bar.
A video detailing Johnson’s arrest was published online, showing the student being forced to the ground with his bleeding head on the pavement held down by the officers, while yelling “I go to UVA,” and calling the officers “racists.”
Following Johnson’s arrest, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe responded by ordering the State Police to launch an investigation into the incident.
Beckner said that the investigation into Johnson’s arrest would continue through the last week of May 2015 so that the Virginia State Police could complete their investigation, where the prosecutor would then determine whether or not to proceed with the two charges against the UVA student.
On Monday, Beckner explained that Johnson’s attorney Daniel Watkins met with the University officials and the owner of the local Irish Pub bar where Johnson was arrested, who all say that prior to the video detailing the boy’s arrest Martese was “polite and well mannered.”
Johnson received ten stiches at the UVA’s Medical Center after the arrest, and was “absolutely devastated” by the incident, according to a statement from his attorney Daniel Watkins on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s arrest follows several similar incidents over the past year that have taken the center stage in the United States of seemingly race-related police brutality, causing widespread protests and debate on US police practices.
