Virginia cops pepper-sprayed Black and Latino Army officer who had hands raised during traffic stop, video showshttps://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7173377002A U.S. Army officer is suing two Virginia police officers after a December traffic stop in which the officers drew and pointed their weapons, pepper-sprayed him and used a slang term to suggest he would face execution as he purposefully held both hands aloft in attempts to defuse the situation.
In his report, included in the court filing, Windsor police officer Daniel Crocker had reported encountering a vehicle with tinted windows and without a rear license plate, describing it in radio transmissions as “eluding police” and labeling it a “high-risk traffic stop.”
According to the suit, Nazario explained at the time that he had slowed down wasn’t attempting to elude the officer but instead looking for an illuminated location “for officer safety and out of respect for the officers.”
His newly purchased Tahoe was so new that he had temporary cardboard tags displayed in both the rear and passenger windows, the suit said.
Thought Nazario’s rear plate became visible under the glare of the fuel station, the suit says Crocker and Gutierrez immediately left their squad cars and drew their weapons, attempting to extract Nazario from his SUV as he held his hands high and repeatedly asking what he had done wrong.
The footage shows Gutierrez pepper-spraying Nazario several times as the officers continue to order him to remove his seat belt and exit his vehicle.
His eyes shut in pain as he resisted the impulse to wipe them, Nazario told the officers: “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,”
After Nazario eventually climbed out of the car, he was brought down with “knee strikes” as he continued to ask for a police supervisor, the lawsuit said, then struck several times and handcuffed.
The officers searched the SUV, where they found a handgun, but replaced it after determining it was legally owned.
The suit said that after questioning Nazario, the officers threatened to derail his military career "knowing the harm criminal charges would cause him" and told him they would refrain from filing charges if he would "chill and let this go."
According to the suit, the officers altered or omitted details about the stop in their subsequent reports.