'They Ruined His Life': Cops Who Held Lt. Nazario at Gunpoint Must Face Independent Probe, Ex-Police

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Two former police chiefs have called for an independent investigation into the Virginia police officers who escalated a traffic stop of a Black and Latino Army Lieutenant, with both insisting that the department's leader should provide greater transparency and accountability.

In December 2020, two Windsor, Virginia police officers—Daniel Crocker and Joe Gutierrez—pulled over Caron Nazario, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and drew their guns before using pepper spray and knocking him to the ground.

Nazario filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia this month, alleging that the officers engaged in racial profiling, threatened to kill him and that their actions may have negatively impacted his military career. He also claims that his constitutional rights were violated.

The incident was captured by bodycam footage and on Nazario's cellphone, according to the suit. Footage was shared online Friday, prompting national attention and widespread outrage. The Windsor Police Department has yet to publicly comment on the incident and both officers are still working for the department, according to the Virginian Pilot.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/they-ruined-his-life-cops-who-held-lt-nazario-at-gunpoint-must-face-independent-probe-ex-police-chiefs-say/ar-BB1fwkNw

[badhair77]

1. Just plain disgraceful.

There is no defense for the officer with the pepper spray. Didn’t see enough of the other one.

[Dustlawyer]

16. The "Ride the lighting" comment made with guns pointed at him

was plenty of justification for his unwillingness to get out of his vehicle.

[True Blue American]

41. What does that mean?

I am not really up on Police slang.

[Dustlawyer]

44. It is a phrase from the electric chair days.

[True Blue American]

48. WOW!

That Policeman was really going over the top. Makes you wonder how many more he has abused!
Bet he voted for Trump!

[Stuart G]

2. Thank You for Posting..K and R..

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. This was just incredibly awful.

Penalties for this kind of behavior need to be so bad that these assholes will be afraid to even try it. And they should always be fired and lose all benefits.

[DURHAM D]

4. If he had not driven to a well lighted area

I doubt he would still be alive.

[bluestarone]

5. AGREE

100%!

[malaise]

39. THIS! n/t

[Glorfindel]

6. He should sue that city into bankruptcy.

Those two cops should be in jail right now, awaiting trial. Nothing is worse than a bully, in uniform or not.

[COL Mustard]

11. It Won't Take Much

That's a pretty poor area of Virginia...Isle of Wight County, I believe. Those cops should be sued for everything they're worth, or ever will be.

[malaise]

40. Where does this hatred come from?

Seriously

[Glorfindel]

43. I don't know, malaise. I honestly can't imagine boiling with that much hate.

And then becoming a police officer and carrying the hatred along on the job!

[malaise]

46. I think there are police across the globe who join to

fulfill their desire to bully, maim and kill.

[True Blue American]

49. Even worse

He was Hispanic.

[iluvtennis]

7. So happy Lt Nazario has filed a lawsuit -what these officers did was profiling and is unacceptable.

[uponit7771]

33. +1, after the tag was seen in the back of the window via body cam its a closed situation.

[George II]

8. They told him to keep his hands outside the car, but told him to get out. How is that....

....physically possible?

[Normanart]

27. SOP

Give conflicting or contradictory commands, then escalate for non-compliance, then attack with deadly force. Recipe for police violence.

[True Blue American]

42. And unlock his door.

Last edited Mon Apr 12, 2021, 03:41 PM - Edit history (1)

Guitterez has been fired. Crocker was trying to help by unlocking his door. He was almost sprayed and that guy did it at least 4 times, shaking the can to do it again.

[PortTack]

9. His legal actions are needed and I thank him for do it. Until there's a price to pay, and a big one

Nothing will change

[ItsjustMe]

10. Bodycam Footage Of Virginia Cops Drawing Guns And Spraying Army Lieutenant During Traffic Stop

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017651094

[bluestarone]

12. This took place in Dec. 2020?

Wow i thought this was just recently.

[intheflow]

35. Four months ago IS recently.

Took time for the bodycam video to be released.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. ACAB.

[KS Toronado]

14. Does anyone know why he was pulled over to begin with?

Approaching a vehicle with guns drawn suggests they were looking for an armed bank robber,
surely not a fix-it ticket for a tail light.

[Brother Buzz]

15. No license plate

It was a brand spanking new vehicle and had a paper tag fixed to the real window.

[KS Toronado]

18. Thanks Bro, holy shit, there was no need for guns!

Hope both get fired.

[Blue_true]

31. Paper plates displayed are legal in many states, when the vehicle owner is awaiting metal plates.

In Florida, the Registry issues metal plates within minutes and then assign the plate to a owner and vehicle on the spot- it also delivers a Title on when spot to the financial owner of the vehicle (a person or bank) So, I don’t see paper plates in Florida.

[onethatcares]

47. oh yes, they have paper plates

white cardboard with black block lettering.

Most start with the letter "C" and are issued by buy here/pay here lots or larger dealers if you don't have a tag to go with a new buy.

[Blue_true]

50. I haven't noticed any paper plates. It is likely that I simply overlooked them.

When I have bought new vehicles, they came with the metal plate, and registration. I have never purchased a used vehicle, so I don’t know how that system works.

[Blue_playwright]

20. That's what I wondered

And if they did think he was some armed robber why is it so difficult to say - “we’re looking for a guy in a car like yours.”

I can’t see it being acceptable that cops DONT have to tell you why they pulled you over.

[druidity33]

32. The cops say...

it's because he refused to pull over. The Lt. says he didn't want to pull over on a deserted unlit road... so he kept driving (a mile or two?) until he saw street lights and a store/gas station... where he pulled over.

[Trueblue1968]

17. #ockUpThePigs !!! 20 years each in the slammer .... no parole.

HARD TIME !!! MAKE THEM SHOVEL ROCKS.

[CaptainTruth]

19. Joe Gutierrez is a racist rage-filled screaming lunatic.

You don't have to be an expert to see & hear that in the video.

He's clearly a danger to the public & shouldn't be on the street, especially with a gun.

And given the way he flew into an uncontrolled rage, he's also a potential danger to his wife & children, if he has any. They should be interviewed & his house inspected to ensure they're not in danger & not being abused.

I'm going to do some work on this one.

[NJCher]

22. please keep us posted

Last edited Mon Apr 12, 2021, 12:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I do nonprofit legal work and have a case where a policeman flew into a rage and behaved in a similar fashion. In checking the law in that particular state, it is required that an officer behave in a reasonable manner. In the case I am talking about, the officer lost his temper so acutely that he was sweating profusely and saying things that made no sense to onlookers.

In this case, the behavior was so extreme that no one would blame Nazario for wondering if they were on steroids.

Personally, I would be terrified to get out in front of officers behaving in such an extreme manner, and aiming guns, too. As pointed out upthread, he was asked to do two contradictory actions: get out of the car while holding his hands out the window. That alone would make one question what frame of mind these officers were holding at the time of the incident.

---------------

on edit: since I wrote this post, I had a chance to ask an experienced criminal lawyer about the requirement that officers comport themselves in a reasonable manner and the response was that the systm blows that off as unimportant.

[Grasswire2]

24. something weird - the radio communication said "felony stop" before the incident took place.

Don't know if it was the dispatcher or the officer.

But why would they term it a felony stop, for a license plate??

That's very suspicious in itself.

[Ms. Toad]

34. That's likely related to not pulling over immediately.

He continued to drive, slowly, to a place that was well lit because he was afraid to stop in the location where he was originally signaled to pull over. In Virginia, that can be charged as a felony (eluding the police), punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and/or $2,500 fine.

[Solomon]

36. And it's a bullshit reason. He wasn't eluding police. Not speeding away and he

pulled into the gas station. They knew he wasn't eluding.

[Ms. Toad]

37. I was answering the question asked

(why the comment about a felony), not commenting on whether it was an appropriate charge.

[Old Crank]

21. He needs to sue

For the town's budget.

[spooky3]

23. The average employee is held accountable for bad behavior. I

don’t understand why some argue that police should be governed by lower standards. If anything, the standards should be HIGHER, given the harm they could cause and the authority we give them.

That debate is going on in MD, which just overturned the governor’s veto of legislation to hold officers to a higher standard.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

25. Why are Cops so afraid of black people?????

I don't get it....I am not afraid of black people.

[MineralMan]

26. Well, obviously a Black 2nd Lt. in the Army Medical Corps

couldn't possibly buy a new vehicle. It had to be stolen, the dumbass cops think. How could he be driving a better car than they owned, after all?



Lt. Nazario should win his lawsuit quite easily.

[erronis]

28. Don't sue the town, the municipality, or the PD. Sue the fuck out of those officers(?)

Make them pay the penalty. The taxpayers don't need to be punished - well, maybe a bit.

Police unions (imagine that the RW slobbering NJs actually like unions) have hoisted this monstrosity on the people.

[Martin68]

29. Law enforcement out of control.

[NJCher]

30. well, well, looky here

This police department has every reason to fear the results of an investigation of the Nazario confrontation. There is the possibility we may have a Virginia version of Ferguson, MO. You will recall this was the Michael Brown shooting where upon investigation, the U.S. Justice Department investigated and found that an inordinate number of tickets were given to black and brown people. The town was essentially putting the tax burden on this particular group of people.

Look at these snips from the article posted by the OP:

snip

Southers suggested that the town could be profiling and using traffic stops for revenue generation, noting that any prospective probe into the matter should assess the racial and gender demographics of the people being pulled over.

Best added that "having close to around 200 traffic stops in a month, on average, for an agency of seven people seems like a relatively high number of traffic stops so it definitely would warrant a further deep dive."

"I really need to understand why the department has seven officers and a K9," Southers said. "Canines are expensive. Their handlers, their training, their food, their vet bills, trust me, a canine is not an inexpensive venture if you have a force of seven.

"It sounds like they decided that they're going to up the ante on self-initiated field activities to justify their existence."

snip

[BobTheSubgenius]

38. Cops losing their jobs for this kind of beahvior is not enough.

There need to be criminal charges as well. I'd think that a criminal record would make it very hard for them to ever wear a badge and a gun again.

[bluestarone]

45. Question regarding police bodycams.

Does ANYBODY look at these on a daily or weekly basis? This was in Dec. of 2020. As far as i'm concerned IF they were watched by any other police person, and NOT brought forth to investigate, then the whole DEPT. is GUILTY!! Who is incharge of BODYCAMS??