Black soldier suing police over violent stop caught on camera – ABC News
A traffic stop drew outrage around the country when two Windsor, Virginia, police officers pulled over an Afro-Latino U.S. Army veteran in December 2020. Guns drawn, they pepper sprayed him and allegedly assaulted him.
Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled over 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario while he was in uniform on the evening of Dec. 5, 2020. Body camera footage showed Gutierrez pepper spray Nazario when he would not get out of the car.
“Can you please relax?” Nazario said to the officers while sitting in his car, bodycam footage showed. “Get out of the car now!” Gutierrez said and proceeded to pepper spray Nazario in the face just after the lieutenant explained that he was actively serving in the U.S. armed forces.
In this image taken from Windsor, Va., Police body camera footage, Lt. Caron Nazario is helped by an EMT after he was pepper-sprayed by Windsor police during a traffic stop in Windsor, on Dec. 20, 2020.
AP
Nazario is suing both officers in federal court for a total of $1 million, claiming they violated his constitutional rights, assaulted him, falsely imprisoned him and had his car illegally searched. The trial will begin on Monday in Richmond, Virginia.
In response to the federal lawsuit, the police officers deny the allegations against them in a court filing.
In the police report, one of the officers wrote that Nazario eluded police because he didn’t stop right away. Nazario stated that he wanted to pull over in a well-lit area.
“I’m honestly afraid to get out,” Nazario said during the traffic stop. “Yeah, you should be,” Gutierrez replied.
Police said they pulled him over for not having a visible rear license plate, but in the footage, a temporary license plate can be seen in the rear window of Nazario’s then-new SUV. Nazario was not charged in the incident.
The Windsor Police Department announced in 2021 that they fired Gutierrez, who pepper sprayed Nazario, for not following department policy during the …….