WATCH: Police Pull Guns On Afro-Latino Army Officer In Traffic Stop - NBC News

[Rhiannon12866]

U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario told Windsor City Police he was “honestly afraid to get out” of his vehicle in videos of the incident showing officers with their guns drawn during the traffic stop.

[MerryHolidays]

1. Awful....here's the press release from the Windsor, Virginia police department just issued

Press Release on Police Stop of December 5, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



FROM: TOWN OF WINDSOR, VIRGINIA

DATE: APRIL 11, 2021

RE: POLICE STOP OF DECEMBER 5, 2020

The Town of Windsor, Virginia, acknowledges the unfortunate events that transpired on December 5, 2020 involving Lt. Caron Nazario and officers of the Windsor Police Department, Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker.

The pursuit and ultimate stop resulted in the use of pepper spray against Lt. Nazario by Officer Gutierrez. As a result of this use of force, Department policy requires an internal investigation to determine the appropriateness of such actions. The investigation of this event began immediately. At the conclusion of this investigation, it was determined that Windsor Police Department policy was not followed. This resulted in disciplinary action, and department-wide requirements for additional training were implemented beginning in January and continue up to the present. Since that time, Officer Gutierrez was also terminated from his employment.

The Town of Windsor has remained transparent about this event since the initial stop, and has openly provided documents and related video to attorneys for Lt. Nazario. The Town will continue to provide information related to this event in its commitment to openness. The Town has also requested an investigation of this event by the Virginia State Police, and joins with elected officials who have called for a full and complete review of the actions of these officers.

The Town of Windsor prides itself in its small-town charm and the community-wide respect of its Police Department. Due to this, we are saddened for events like this to cast our community in a negative light. Rather than deflect criticism, we have addressed these matters with our personnel administratively, we are reaching out to community stakeholders to engage in dialogue, and commit ourselves to additional discussions in the future.

For more information, please contact Town Manager William Saunders at [e-mail]

https://www.windsor-va.gov/news/article/april/11/2021/press-release-on-police-stop-of-december-5,-2020

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Thanks so much for adding this. They've been discussing this on Morning Joe this morning

And I was horrified actually seeing the video. He was basically stopped for no reason and subsequently terrorized.

[quickesst]

2. For those people who are not....

.... veterans or active-duty, they should be angry, and disgusted by the actions of these police officers. If people are veterans, or active duty military, you can take that anger and disgust that non-military people feel, and multiply it by a hundred. Truly one of the most shameful acts by police that I have ever witnessed, and relieved the lieutenant did not lose his life needlessly. These officers should be held responsible to the fullest extent possible, and police commanders, along with those politicians in every district should let it be known that this is what will happen to you if the power given is abused.

[exboyfil]

3. I love how the statement doesn't say the day

in which the officer was fired. Given other statements it must have been this weekend (after the lawsuit was filed). Convenient timing don't you think?

The officers have to answer why, once you saw the temporary license under the lights of the gas station, you didn't holster your weapons and tell the driver to continue on his way. Use of the pepper spray was bad, but even pointing your weapons at the driver was just as bad. There was absolutely no justification for it.

The statements seem to indicate a big part of the rage came with the decision of the driver to park in a well lighted area off of the road. I wonder why? This seems safer for the officers and the driver anyway.

Every time a new car is sold, it comes off the lot without a plate. How often do stolen cars have the plates removed. Unless you have a report of a new car being stolen, shouldn't the default be that this must be a new car? How many times do they pull over new cars at night? It seems the auto dealers in the area would be getting pretty upset.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Cops see a person of color driving a new car: "Must be stolen"

I've seen this since high school in the 60's. The difference these days, is video recording.

[exboyfil]

8. How would the officer have known he was black

When he first decided to go after him for no plate? I guess you could argue he knew he was black as soon as he went for the lights (a really sad commentary on our policing that black people are afraid - justifiably so). It could be that the officer saw him earlier under lights or entering the vehicle? If that is the case, then this situation gets a whole lot worse for the officer.

That would be a really good question for the investigation. How many times are drivers pulled over in new cars? Why this guy? If it is happening all the time then you would think the car dealers in the area would be having a fit.

[The Jungle 1]

12. My understanding is he drove past the cop and the cop pulled out after him.

The cop saw who was in the car.
At the end of the video the fascist cops blame the whole thing on the victim. Wow no one in America is buying that bull.
If it looks like a fascist and it smells like a fascist it must be a fascist.

[exboyfil]

13. Wow thanks

So he was parked near a light that would illuminate the driver and then he decides to follow. Not sure he wants to undergo adversarial questioning on why he even decided to follow. Traveling the speed limit in a nice new car I guess (while black of course).

This profiling shit has got to stop. Make it real painful for the citizens of the town that elects the council that hires the police chief who decides what, who, and how.

[wnylib]

15. Yeah, that part got to me, too. The cop

keeps saying that Navaro (sp?) is to blame for the whole mismanaged mess.

First, the car is obviously new. This can't be the first time they have seen a new car with a temporary sticker. If they hadn't been so hyped up on a power trip in the first place, they would have either checked for a sticker or just asked why he had no plate on the car. End of situation.

Instead, they treat the situation like it's the capture of #1 on the FBI list.

At the end, the cop knows he has mishandled the case. That's why he is endlessly going over and over how it's all the driver's fault. He is over explaining himself to excuse himself for over-reacting.

I forgot to mail in my registration renewal one time. I got pulled over by a female cop for driving with an expired registration sticker. First thing she said was, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" I had no clue and said, "No." She pointed out the expired sticker. I said that I had forgotten. She ran a check on me and came up with nothing. Since I was just a block from home, she let me drive home and followed me.

But, I am a white woman. I was never in danger from her.

Another time, I had just picked up my brother-in-law from the airport to go to his father's funeral. My husband was with me. I was distracted by our conversation and in a hurry to get us all back to the funeral home an hour's drive away.

My brother-in-law said there was a car following us and it looked like a cop, so I pulled over. The cop was annoyed that he had followed us a mile. Said he would have only given me a warning if I had pulled over sooner. I explained the situation, apologized, and got a speeding ticket. No drawn guns. No order to get out of the car. No mace. But we are all white.

[exboyfil]

18. I used my white privilege card

at a DUI stop while on vacation with the wife, kids, and the dogs in a rental car. I had left my license in my swim trunks back home. I showed them my company ID and they let me proceed on my way with a warning. Immediately let my wife take over driving (which she wasn't happy about because this was rural Arkansas state highway). Didn't drive until I got my license in priority mail from the in laws.

I know the situation would have played out differently if I had been a black man under identical circumstances.

[wnylib]

20. Whenever I see a situation being

mishandled due to race, I play the race card (white privilege) to deescalate it if I can. As a citizen, It's my responsibility to other citizens to see that we are all treated fairly. Besides, although I look white and identify as white, I had a Native grandmother. I experienced some racism from teachers in grade school as a child and in high school as a teen when I mentioned my grandmother during class discussions of Native people. It was other students who spoke up for me. I haven't forgotten that. A few other incidents occurred as an adult, once at work and once in a college class.

And one time I was mistaken for a light complected Black woman. It was a hot summer day and I had a little tan. My hair was dark brown (before it grayed). My eyes are brown and I have large pupils that make them look darker. This was decades ago when many people, white and Black, wore an Afro hairstyle, which I had at the time.

I was alone and pulled into a gas station in a small, lily white town. There were no other customers. Three white men sat on chairs under the roof overhang of the gas station/store. They glared at me when I got out to pump gas. One of them yelled out, "You just driving through, honey?" The word "honey" was said in a very exaggerated tone. I took them for misogynistic yokels at first. I just said yes, I was on my way to another town and noticed my gas was too low. He said that was good because they didn't like "your kind" hanging around.

The other two snickered. I didn't know what they meant and it seemed bizarre to me. They kept sneering and leering so that I was eager to get done and leave. It wasn't until one of them said something about me being pretty pale for a N---- that I realized why they were acting that way.

When I left, I felt like I needed a shower to get their stink off of me.

I know that there are a lot of people - a lot of DUers here - who have experienced far worse. But that experience gave me an inking of what they deal with every day.

[exboyfil]

22. We had African American friends in Tennessee

While Cookeville was not so openly racist (still there even among Christian folk when not in mixed company), our black friend and her young daughter needed to use the restroom in one of those towns 15 miles out. Trust me those towns 15 miles out are right out of the 1950s (at least they were in the late 1990s). Our "sympathetic" soul got her out of there quickly (there was a meeting going on - now I wouldn't say a Klan meeting but you have heard the expression about ducks).

The husband was a doctor. They were pillars of the community.

[wnylib]

23. The incident that I described

happened in northwestern Pennsylvania, just 20 miles south of my home city of Erie.

[malaise]

5. The cop was fired last night

Racism on steroids

[wnylib]

16. Took them too damned long to do it

[malaise]

19. They can't hide after the video goes public

Madness

[wnylib]

21. And that's the only reason that they finally did.

[ItsjustMe]

6. Full Video

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017651094

[Duppers]

9. Glad his dog stayed in the vehicle.

Those cops would have otherwise shot the poor dog.

This was a horrible demonstration of racism that could possibly have turned out much worse. Glad the cop(s) were fired.

[The Jungle 1]

10. Black WWII veterans were lynched in the south.

America has anything changed?

[magicguido]

11. for what reason was it a "felony stop"?

[exboyfil]

14. He drove for two minutes at a low rate of speed

to get under the lights of a gas station. I know - doesn't pass the smell test. As soon as he is under the lights, the ambiguity about the missing plates is gone (you could clearly see the temp tag).

Instead of just telling the driver to go about his business, the cops pull their guns and then start shouting conflicting orders and making death threats.

It appears the whole thing started as profiling (see black man driving new car).

[wnylib]

17. Exactly. Good summary.