Last year, video footage went viral in which Lt. Caron Nazario, while wearing his uniform, was pulled over and aggressively detained by police officers in Windsor Virginia.
Police officers initially pulled him over for a missing license plate, while Nazario's lawyers claim the temporary ID tag was visible in the rear window.
The resulting altercation did not go well, as Nazario was fearful to comply with police officers, who had weapons drawn, by stepping out of his vehicle. One officer told him, "you're fixing to ride the lighting son," which Nazario took as a reference to the electric chair. It also could have been a reference to the Taser that one officer had drawn and pointed at him.
After being pepper-sprayed, Nazario was removed from the vehicle and arrested. One of the police officers involved in the incident was later fired and the other disciplined. Now the Attorney General of Virginia, Mark Herring, is taking action by filing a suit against the town of Windsor.
Related
In a statement released by the AG's office, Herring claims to have uncovered systemic unconstitutional policing in Windsor alleging that, "its police department has operated in a way that led to discrimination against African Americans and violated their constitutional rights."
"While our investigation was spurred by the egregious treatment against Lt. Nazario that we all saw in bodycam footage, we discovered that this incident was indicative of much larger problems within the department," the AG said in a press release. "Our months-long investigation uncovered huge disparities in enforcement against African American drivers, and a troubling lack of policies and procedures to prevent discriminatory or unconstitutional policing.
"We even discovered evidence that officers were actually being trained to go 'fishing' and engage in pretextual stops. That is why I have now filed suit to ensure accountability and to protect Virginians’ rights."
Amongst other findings, the AG's investigation concluded that Black people are 200-500% more likely to be pulled over by Windsor police. Nazario is Black and Latino. His lawyers have filed their own lawsuit against the town of Windsor.
Related
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
Want to get more connected to the stories and resources Connecting Vets has to offer? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter.