Underage student who was violently arrested by cops who mistook her case of sparkling water for beer gets $200,000 compensation

Elizabeth Daly, now 21, and her friend had their car swarmed by state agents after their case of water was mistaken for beer



Daly had initially sought $40million in damages for a tremor in her right hand, intense anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems

The young women had been shopping at a local Virginia grocery store one night in April 2013 for a charity fundraiser the next day

University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly (pictured last year), had a case of water in her car mistaken for alcohol by state agents in April 2013

A college student in Virginia reached a $212,500 settlement on Wednesday following her arrest last year when state agents had mistaken a case of water for beer.



Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced that Elizabeth Daly, now 21, had reached a settlement in state court. She had initially filed a $40 million federal lawsuit against agents with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control unit.



Herring said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing by any of the parties in the lawsuit.

Daly had left a Charlottesville, Virginia, supermarket in April 2013 when her car was surrounded by state ABC agents, one of whom drew a firearm and another who had jumped onto the hood of her car.



They had mistaken her carton of La Croix sparkling water for beer that her friend had purchased.



The young women claimed to be at the grocery story shopping for a charity fundraiser the next day.



'My roommates and I were terrified,' Daly told The Hook.



'We called 911 as we had been taught to do if you were ever unsure of the validity of people saying they are law enforcement.'



Daly said she became frantic when unmarked agents surrounded her vehicle, banging on the windows and demanding that she roll them down. One of her two friends in the car had allegedly said that the badges were fake and told her to 'go, go, go' according to the lawsuit cited in the AP report.



Unsure whether they were in fact agents, she and her friend fled the scene in the car, grazing two of the agents in the process.

The 911 operator was unable to confirm whether the agents were real but while they were near an intersection the operator told them that they were in fact agents, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.



The women had intended on driving to a local police station while the agents had chased them on foot, according to The Hook.



Daly said the agents' credentials were not clearly visible and they did not did identify themselves in an attempt to stop her from leaving the scene.



A young woman who was friends with Elizabeth Day had purchased the case of La Croix water that had been mistaken by authorities for beer (stock image)

She was subsequently arrested at a red light at the nearby intersection. She faced two counts of assault and one count of eluding — both are Class 6 felonies and she would've faced a maximum of five years in prison and no more than a $2,500 fine but the charges were later dropped and her record was expunged.