Posted on 04/12/2021 4:53:53 AM PDT by Cronos
A US army lieutenant is to sue two Virginia police officers after they pulled their guns on him and used pepper spray during a traffic stop.
The lawsuit has been filed by Caron Nazario in Virginia against Windsor police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker, and alleges that they violated his constitutional rights.
..The incident, which was captured on video, involves Mr Nazario, who is black and Latino, in his uniform driving his new car through Windsor with a temporary paper tag in his rear window in December last year.
The lawsuit says that a police car flagged him down and asked him to pull over, which he does about two minutes later after searching for somewhere lit up to stop.
Advertisement It then says that an officer radioed to report that Nazario was driving without a tag and "eluding" police, adding it was a "high-risk" stop, leading to another officer joining the scene.
During the traffic stop, the footage shows Mr Nazario saying he is afraid to get out of the vehicle, to which an officer responds: "Yeah you should be."
The officer then proceeds to keep demanding that Mr Nazario gets out of the car, while the army lieutenant asks what he has done wrong, adding for a traffic violation he does not have to get out of his car.
He is then pepper sprayed through the window of his car, while officers attempt to open the door to his vehicle.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Major corporal punishment on a lieutenant.
Just outside Norfolk. Figures.
He wouldn’t have been pulled over in Giles County. We only run speed traps.
Huh?
He’s either a moron or a bigot looking for conflict with cops. Probably both.
“which he does about two minutes later after searching for somewhere lit up to stop.”
So the police pulling you over doesn’t mean you look for a place you like to stop. Sue him back.
He found a location that was properly lighted.
The Town of Windsor, VA has a population of about 2,600.
I think that may explain a lot.
Years ago I saw the blue lights flashing behind me while driving down a country road. I knew the nearest well-lit location was about a mile down the road at an intersection. I slowed down and dialed 911 to tell them that I was being followed by a LEO but was driving to a well-lit location for both of our safety. The operator stayed on the phone with me and radioed to the LEO to tell them I was on the phone and not fleeing.
The officer appreciated the gesture and that I’d called. He’d pulled me over for speeding (there was no posted speed limit, but I was driving a bit faster than I should’ve). I was let off with a warning.
Given the incidence of LEO impostors, I’d rather not take the risk of pulling over somewhere in the middle of nowhere or where it would be hard to find my body.
want a police officer to use force?
disobey their orders.
I have turned off a busy road into a side street and parking lot.
If it were dark and all I could see were flashing lights, you bet I would slow down, signal, and stop in a public, lit area.
I don’t think the Lt has much of a leg to stand on. However, without reviewing the body cam or dash cam it appears the cop(s) acted like a bunch of clowns.
May an officer, during a traffic stop, order an occupant out of the stopped vehicle? Into the officer’s vehicle? The law on this question has become unsettled.
Mimms: officers may order occupants out. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that, in the interest of officer safety, an officer may order any or all of a vehicle’s occupants out of the vehicle during a traffic stop. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977) (ruling that an officer may order a driver out of the driver’s vehicle during a traffic stop; this is “at most, a mere inconvenience” that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment because it “diminishes the possibility . . . that the driver can make unobserved movements” preparatory to assaulting the officer); Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408 (1997) (describing Mimms as holding that an “officer may as a matter of course order the driver of a lawfully stopped care to exit his vehicle,” and extending the same rule to passengers; the presence of passengers makes a stop more dangerous and the intrusion on passengers is “minimal”).
The police have told us, over the years, to find a well lighted place to pull over if you are not sure if it is a real police officer behind you.
Every so often, robbers or rapists will buy a bubble light and slap it on the roof, plug it into the cigarette lighter and get people to pull over at night.
And a 55 page budget. About a third of which goes to police.
I’d say there’s s lot in Windsor that could stand a good look.
Having his emergency lights on and driving slow was a clear signal he would pull over at a safe place.
What's the police officers excuse?
To be fair, if cops come behind me with lights on, I stop no matter where it is...as close to immediately as I can.
If it is dangerous, it is likely on other traffic and the police officers who would have to walk in traffic.
I have been stopped before, and the officer got out, walked up and politely instructed me to pull forward about fifty yards to a rough pull off.
But if a cop comes up, turns on his lights and says through the bullhorn “Pull Over” I am going to do it without worrying about people getting injured rather than driving for two minutes more without stopping.
That is going to cause police to think and act in ways differently from someone who simply pulls over. Just a fact.
I have been pulled over in the past and have looked for a safe place to pull over. Kept it businesslike with the officers. Most cases the officer expressed appreciation for finding a safe place to stop. I responded by telling the officer that I have seen too many news reports about officers being hit by a DWI during an otherwise routine traffic stop.
I don’t know if I would have had the presence of mind to do that, but...nice job.
Very intelligent.
Watch the video - hopefully the pepper spraying cop loses his job
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