Virginia College Student From Chicago Suing Officers After Bloody Arrest
(CBS) -- The 21-year-old University of Virginia student from Chicago who was left bloodied in an arrest in March has now filed a federal lawsuit against the officers, reports WBBM's Steve Miller.
Martese Johnson is suing the three officers and the Virginia Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control for $3 million. He says in the lawsuit that his constitutional rights were violated last March 18 in Virginia.
He has written about his arrest in Vanity Fair, saying his head wounds from the arrest required ten stiches and that he was left in shackles around his ankles and wrists. Videos of the arrest hit the internet showing Johnson, an African-American, bleeding on the sidewalk with white officers on top of him.
Johnson is a graduate of Chicago's Kenwood Academy. He was 20 at the time of his arrest in Virginia. Charges of intoxication and obstruction of justice were dropped several months ago.