A recent raid on a rave in Culpeper County, Virginia, netted a large quantity of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Police confiscated two pounds of marijuana, some 287 pills containing unknown substances, 200 doses of LSD, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, psychedelic mushrooms, and over 100 smoking devices.
While the presence of drugs at the rave near Commonwealth Park on Somerville Road is not under dispute, some partygoers are speaking out against the way they were treated.
Abrupt end to two-day party
Police descended onto the rave at dawn. They rounded up all the attendees and patted them down, going through tents and sleeping bags in their search for drugs. According to the owner of the property, Allison Watts, the searches were performed with too much force.
She told CBS 6 that the police treated people in a way that "crossed the line to abuse," saying that "people were woken up before dawn with assault rifles in their face, dragged from their tents by their ankle and hit in the head."
Police are disputing reports such as these, saying that no guns were drawn and there was no excessive force used on the ravers. Lt. Jason Romero spoke to the allegations, saying that, "All of our uniformed personnel are equipped with rifles, which in pretty much standard for law enforcement these days, and yes some officers did have rifles with them, but to my knowledge they were never pointed at anybody."
Only time will tell if any of the suspects at the party decide to file charges against the arresting officers.
This news article has been brought to you by the Virginia Beach criminal law attorneys at Tavss Fletcher.