Daly was arrested and spent the night in jail, but the charges against her were dropped and her arrest and court records expunged.

In asking that the remainder of the counts be dismissed, the Attorney General’s Office argued that the officers had reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot whether the cans turned out to hold beer or water.

Lawyers for the state argued that the agents’ response under the circumstances was legally justified and protected by qualified immunity.

Daly’s lawyers argued that there was no reasonable cause to suspect wrongdoing. Among other things, there had not been an instance of the sale of alcohol to underage customers at the Harris Teeter store in 14 years, Thorsen said.

In his ruling Tuesday, Hudson wrote that in weighing a motion to dismiss at this stage, he needed to consider the case “in the light most favorable to” Daly. Nevertheless, he dismissed much of the suit, including three of the six assault counts.

“Banging on the passenger’s side window and shouting at (Daly) may have been unsettling, but falls short or plausibly placing (her) in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm,” Hudson wrote.

But he said jumping on the hood of the SUV and violently striking the windshield, slamming the front window and attempting to break the side window with a steel flashlight “could reasonably engender apprehension of bodily injury.”

​fgreen@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6340