RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) The law firm representing Virginia National Guard Lt. Caron Nazario, shown in a viral video having guns drawn on him and being pepper-sprayed by officers from the Windsor, Virginia, Police Department, released a statement on Monday thanking those whove shown support of a civil rights lawsuit filed against the two policemen in Norfolk federal court. It sounds like the officers in Windsor were trying to make an agreement with Lt. Nazario. "We will be issuing subpoenas and written questions that have to be answered under oath by the defendants and we will ask for documents that they need to produce.". Jury deliberations are underway in Army Lt. Caron Nazario's $1 million lawsuit against Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker and ex-officer Joe Gutierrez, the trial for which is taking place at the Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige Jr. Federal Courthouse in Richmond. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much We must consider steps to decertify officers that engage in this behavior, so that they cannot seek employment with other law enforcement agencies, Arthur said. Were very concerned about what weve seen, said Valarie Butler, president of the Isle of Wight chapter of the NAACP. The incident was captured by the officers body cameras and the footage became the basis of a lawsuit filed by Nazario against the officers last year. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way, pepper-spraying a U.S. Army lieutenant during a traffic stop, moves to stay proceedings on the Complaint. Herrings investigation of the towns traffic stops was conducted in response to a 2020 stop involving Army Lt. Caron Nazario, a Black and Latino man who had guns drawn on him and was pepper sprayed by two Windsor police officers. Gutierrez was fired by the Windsor Police Department in 2021 for not following department policy during the incident. Brandyn Steinwender says the lawsuit he filed against Windsor police stems from what happened on Ouellette Avenue, near Park Street in the early morning hours of November 10, 2019. The traffic stop happened on December 5, 2020, when former police officer Joe Gutierrez pepper-sprayed Lt. Caron Nazario, whose hands were up out of his car window. This has got to stop, said Jonathan Arthur, Nazarios Richmond-based attorney who believes his client is a victim of police brutality. By the time Nazario stopped in the gas station, a second officer, Joe Gutierrez, had also arrived in his cruiser behind Crocker. Windsor police officers for a controversial December 2020 traffic stop. EMS arrived soon after to administer aid to Nazario. The officers ultimately released Nazario and no charges were filed against him. Gutierrez whose employment with the department has since been terminated following an internal investigation and his partner, Daniel Crocker, are now the defendants in a lawsuit arguing that. Example video title will go here for this video. Gutierrez was fired in 2021 following an investigation into the use of force during the incident and Crocker remains on the force. At one moment, Gutierrez said to Nazario, If you want to fight it and argue it and I dont mean that disrespectfully, okay you have that right as a citizen if thats what you want, well charge you, have you go to court, notify the [military] command, do all that, or we can take time out of our night, which is not a problem, were being paid to take care of you. Now, Nazario is asking for at least $1 million in damages and for the court to rule that the two officers violated his rights, including rights under the Fourth Amendment. Trial begins for Virginia police officers being sued by Army officer over traffic stop. In April, an officer involved in the stop, Joe Gutierrez, was fired from the police department. Last year, Special Prosecutor and Commonwealths Attorney Anton Bell determined no charges should be filed against the officers in state court but formally referred the case to the US Attorneys Office for a federal civil rights investigation. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. TORONTO TD Bank Group says it will pay US$1.205 billion to settle a lawsuit in connection with a multi-year Ponzi scheme . Sessions with Utsey have cost a cumulative $7,000, Nazario testified. Nazario identified it as his vehicles temporary New York plate. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/Qa27El356s, A U.S. Army officer filed a federal civil lawsuit against police officers who pepper-sprayed and assaulted him. The investigation revealed huge disparities in enforcement against African American drivers, and a troubling lack of policies and procedures to prevent discriminatory or unconstitutional policing, the statement said. . He was defeated in November by Jason Miyares, a Republican from Virginia Beach. He was pulled over, pepper sprayed, and arrested without explanation.This is racism. In June, Virginia State Police handed its investigation over to Hamptons Commonwealths Attorney Anton Bell. Weve launched an investigation and youll definitely be hearing from us later.. Nazarios lawyers point to a 2006 case where a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that retaliatory action in the nature of speech that threatens, coerces or intimidates establishes a violation of an individual's First Amendment rights. Herring to file this lawsuit, except perhaps for the sake of headlines, which he will surely receive, the statement said. In this image made from Windsor, (Va.) Police video, A police officer uses a spray agent on Caron Nazario on Dec. 20, 2020, in Windsor, Va. Nazario, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, is suing two Virginia police officers over a traffic stop during which he says the officers drew their guns and pointed them at him as he was dressed in uniform. While the lawsuit does not and cannot ask for disciplinary action against the officers, Arthur said there needs to be accountability. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. There was no need for Mr. The jury in Virginia National Guard 1st Lt. Caron Nazario's lawsuit against Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker and ex-officer Joe Gutierrez has adjourned for the weekend without reaching a verdict. In body camera footage, Gutierrez told Nazario that if he had just complied he would have been gone by now.. Williamson and Rucker, her son, were found dead on this day 20 years ago in their Tilston Drive house. It will close again on Friday, Dec. 30 at noon and remain closed through Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Windsor police also disproportionately searched more vehicles driven by Black drivers, even though Black people do not make up the majority of the towns or the states population, the lawsuit claimed. The officers faced four counts: assault, battery, false imprisonment and illegal search. The community they serve is nearly 30 square miles with a population of 28,500 citizens. Nazario is a 2nd Lieutenant serving as a 70B Army Health Services Administration Officer in the Virginia National Guards Norfolk-based 1st Battalion, 111th Field Artillery Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) On Monday, January 9, the federal trial began for a U.S. Army lieutenant who was pepper sprayed after being pulled over in Windsor in 2020. That number was much higher than expected based on the number of Black residents in the town, the office said. The Town of Windsor announced Sunday night that Gutierrez had been terminated from the police force following an internal investigation. What was his right? * K9 Unit. Senator Tim Kaine have all released statements condemning the actions of the two officers and called for a criminal investigation into the incident. The lawsuit said after Crocker turned on his cruisers blue lights, Nazario traveled less than a mile and slowed down until he pulled into a BP gas station. The lawsuit also ignores warnings posted on the Virginia Community Policing Act Data Collection website about how the presence of a major thoroughfare in an area can skew data collection, the response said. After five full days of jury deliberation, a verdict was reached on Tuesday in the $1 million lawsuit filed . On cross examination, Silverman went after Nazarios credibility, noting hed been recorded telling the officers he was preparing in December 2020 to deploy to either Kuwait or Afghanistan. Boss, basketball &, Youngkin to take part in CNN town hall amid 2024, Guilford school board bill gets 1st reading in NC, Back-to-back hurricanes more likely to happen: Study, Al-Qaida chiefs pattern of life was key to death, Bike tours raising awareness for bone marrow registry, 180 days in jail possible for ski pass fraud, Pilot, passenger walk away from plane crash on E-470, Watch: 4 mountain lions prowl Colorado neighborhood, Hospital bills $847 facility fee for Zoom call, Good Samaritan helps rescue kids from icy pond, Whats next in unprecedented case of truck driver. The body cam footage shows that after pulling into the parking lot of a gas station off of Route U.S. 460 in Isle of Wight County, the officers pointed their guns at Nazario, ordered him out of his vehicle and threatened to shoot if he did not comply. Officer Joe Gutierrez of the Windsor Police Department and Lieutenant Caron Nazario, right, leaving his vehicle after being pepper sprayed by the police at a gas station during a traffic stop in Windsor, Va., last year. The jury awarded 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario a total of $3,685 in the lawsuit against Windsor, Virginia, police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker. We hope with this lawsuit the Town of Windsor will take this matter seriously and they will have no other choice but to sit down and have a results-driven conversation with the African American community, she said. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The stop sparked nationwide backlash and Virginia's attorney general later sued Windsor, a small town about 70 miles southeast of Richmond, alleging the town's police engaged in discriminatory. Thank you for a job well done, well-reasoned. "Threatening to arrest an individual with the aim of suppressing speech is a constitutional tort regardless of whether the threat is carried out," US District Judge Roderick C. Young wrote in his opinion. If not, it will go on to a jury. Yeah, says one of the officers, according to footage from his body camera. Per court documents posted on Nazario's lawyer's website, Crocker also "moves to stay proceedings on the Complaint filed by Plaintiff Caron Nazario (Nazario) until the completion of on going state and federal investigations, or in the alternative, for a period of ninety days.". Gutierrez then said that he had spoken with the chief of police because Nazario had asked for a supervisor. They took a lot of time with this decision. 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