RICHMOND, Va. – Bumbling undercover agents with Virginia’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control cost taxpayers over $200,000 after they mistakenly swarmed the SUV of an underage college student for purchasing sparkling water.     

Elizabeth Daly filed a $40 million federal lawsuit against the department after agents rushed her SUV in April 2013 when she purchased a carton of sparkling water from a supermarket and they thought it was beer, the Associated Press reports.

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Daly couldn’t clearly see the badges around the agents’ necks and they didn’t identify themselves, so Daly fled the scene. She was initially charged with eluding police and assaulting an officer because her vehicle grazed two agents, but the charges were eventually dropped because of public outrage over the incident.

“The agents banged on the sport utility vehicle and demanded that she open the window and not start the engine. One tried to break the window with a flashlight, and after another officer pulled a gun, one of Daly’s two passengers shouted that the badges were fake and implored the driver to ‘go, go, go,’ according to the lawsuit,” the news service reports.

The Huffington Post reports Daly, who was 20 years old at the time, was picking up the water and cookie dough ice cream for a sorority fundraiser at the University of Virginia. She called 911 while leaving the supermarket grocery store and told the dispatcher she was planning on driving to a police station. When dispatchers told her the bust was legitimate, she pulled over immediately.

“Virginia’s ABC said in June (2013) that it was ‘reviewing’ the incident, and in November released a statement that the agents had violated agency policy,” the news site reports.

Last week, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced the state reached a $212,500 settlement with Daly, though the agents admitted to no wrongdoing.

“My goal throughout this case has been to reach a resolution that is just and fair for all parties, including Ms. Daly, the ABC and its agents, and the Commonwealth and its taxpayers,” Herring said, according to the AP. “After careful consideration of the potentially significant costs of taking this case to trial, I believe we have reached such an outcome.”

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The case may have ended well for agents who appeared to have crossed the line in their pursuit of underage drinkers, but it’s hardly a fair resolution for taxpayers who will be forced to pay for their mistakes.

Things happen, and people make mistakes, but pulling a gun on a young scared college student, and trying to bust out her vehicles windows over a case of beer seems a little extreme.

The settlement may have closed the case on the legality of Daly’s arrest, and the trauma she undoubtedly endured from the incident, but it leaves one big question unanswered: What, if any, punishment did these overzealous officers receive for their inappropriate actions?