Earlier this month, Nazario sued Gutierrez and his colleague officer Daniel Crocker in federal court for, among other things, violating his constitutional rights against unreasonable seizure, illegal search, and excessive force.
In his lawsuit, Nazario described driving back from his duty station wearing his uniform in his newly purchased Chevrolet Tahoe. The car was so new, he said, that he had not yet received license plates and had taped temporary cardboard ones to the rear window.
When police tried to pull him over for his lack of a permanent plate, Nazario said he slowed down and put his turn signal on to indicate compliance, but continued to drive for less than a mile so he could stop in a safe, well-lit public place.
In a BP gas station parking lot, the two officers withdrew their weapons as Nazario set up his cellphone on the dashboard to record the interaction.
“What’s going on?” he can be heard asking the officers.
After Nazario, with his arms raised, continued to decline to exit the car unless he received more information about why he was being stopped, Gutierrez can be heard telling Nazario he was “fixin’ to the ride the lightning,” which Nazario’s attorneys alleged was a colloquial term for being executed by the electric chair.
When Nazario told the officers he was afraid to exit the vehicle, Gutierrez could be heard responding, “Yeah, you should be.”
As Nazario asked the officers why they were treating an active duty service member in such a manner, Crocker tried to open the driver’s door. Gutierrez then told his colleague to back up, before spraying Nazario in the face with pepper spray.
The officers’ body cameras continued to capture Nazario’s struggle to exit the vehicle after being sprayed and tell the officers he was concerned his dog in the rear seat was also “choking” from the pepper spray.
When he exits the car, the officers wrestle him to the ground. “Why am I being treated like this?” Nazario asks. “This is really messed up.”
“Because you’re not cooperating,” Gutierrez responds.
Nazario is seeking $1 million in compensation for his treatment, which he said was “consistent with a disgusting nationwide trend of law enforcement officers, who, believing they can operate with complete impunity, engage in unprofessional, discourteous, racially biased, dangerous, and sometimes deadly abuses of authority.”
No attorneys were listed for Crocker or Gutierrez, and the pair have not responded to media inquiries.
Source Article from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/windsor-virginia-police-black-lieutenant-caron-nazario
Comments