Black-Latino Army Officer Sues 2 Policemen For Pulling Guns, Spraying Substance On Him

Two Virginia police officers have been sued for allegedly pulling their guns on a Black-Latino Army officer in uniform during a traffic stop and spraying him with a substance.

A lawsuit filed on April 2 revealed that on Dec. 5, 2020, Windsor police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled over U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, while he was wearing his uniform.

Nazario, who was in a newly purchased Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and was heading home from work, was asked to stop for not having a rear license plate.

According to the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Norfolk, the officers violated Nazario's constitutional rights and he seeks compensatory and punitive damages, reported ABC News.

A police body camera footage shows the time when officers pursued Nazario, who then stopped at a gas station that was well-lit.

According to the report Crocker admitted after the incident that the driver was "eluding police" and he considered it to be a high-risk traffic stop. But the lawsuit said that Nazario wasn't eluding police, he was trying to stop in a well-lit area for his and the officers' safety.

Gutierrez said that Nazario's decision to drive to a lighted area happens "a lot ... 80 percent of the time," and that the maneuver informed him that Nazario was "at least 80 percent probability, a minority," the lawsuit said.

As his vehicle was new, Nazario hadn't yet gotten permanent plates, but had his cardboard temporary plates taped inside the rear window of the car. When officers reached inside his car, that plate was visible in the rear, the lawsuit said.

In the video, officers approach Nazario with their guns drawn and shout at him to place his arms out of the window. "I'm honestly afraid to get out of the car," Nazario is heard saying in the video.

"Yeah you should be," one officer replied. The officers then threaten to arrest him for not listening to their orders to get out of the car and for "obstruction of justice."

"I'm actively serving this country and this is how you're going to treat me?" Nazario says.

After some time, an officer appears to spray him in his face with a substance.

Nazario keeps his hands up while the officers yell at him to step out. "I don't even want to reach for my seatbelt, can you please? ... My hands are out, can you please -- look, this is really messed up," Nazario says in the video.

According to the lawsuit, at one point, Gutierrez told Nazario he was "fixin' to ride the lightning." The phrase was a line from the movie "The Green Mile," a film about a Black man facing execution, and references the electric chair.

When he steps out of the car, the video shows the officers repeatedly telling Nazario to get on the ground. The officers then hit Nazario with their fists, knees and hands, forcing him onto his face and put him in handcuffs.

The lawsuit claimed the officers used force despite not having any probable cause to believe Nazario had committed a crime.

"These cameras captured footage of behavior 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 ..." the lawsuit said.

Gutierrez said in his report that he felt he had to choose between charging Nazario with obstruction or releasing him without any charges.

"I made the decision to release him without any charges," his report said.

"The reason for this decision is simple; the military is the only place where double jeopardy applies. Meaning that whatever happened in civil court, the military could still take action against him. Being a military veteran, I did not want to see his career ruined over one erroneous decision."

Crocker said in his report he chose against filing charges because Nazario was active duty military and didn't want to see his career ruined for "poor judgement."

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam called the incident "disturbing," and said in a statement that it angered him. He asked the state police to investigate into the matter.

"Our Commonwealth has done important work on police reform, but we must keep working to ensure Virginians are safe during interactions with police, the enforcement of laws is fair and equitable, and people are held accountable," Northam said in the statement tweeted Sunday.

Meanwhile, a state police spokeswoman said in a statement that the department’s superintendent had been in touch with the governor and Rodney Riddle, the police chief of Windsor, where the incident took place, reported NBC News.

“At Chief Riddle's request and the Governor's directive, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation is initiating a thorough and objective criminal investigation into the Dec. 5, 2020 traffic stop conducted by the Windsor police officers,” she said.

Windsor’s town manager said in a statement that an internal investigation found that the officers -- Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker -- who pulled Nazario over, did not follow departmental policy. They were disciplined and ordered to take additional training, said the manager, William Saunders.

Gutierrez was later fired, Saunders said.