By now we know you all have seen the disturbing body camera footage of U.S. Army Lieutenant Caron Nazario being held at gunpoint and pepper-sprayed by two Virginia police officers last December. Now one of the officers involved in the illegal traffic stop has been fired for their actions during the incident.
According to ABC News, on Sunday officials announced that Officer Joe Gutierrez was fired. After an internal investigation, it was determined that Gutierrez did not follow the department’s policy, leading to his termination. There has not been an update on Daniel Crocker, who was the other officer involved in the December 5th incident. However, the department said they are requiring added training.
The town of Windsor, Virginia said in a statement, “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.”
As previously reported, Lieutenant Caron Nazario is suing both officers for the incident.
In the video, the officers could be seen with their guns drawn at Lieutenant Nazario, and one of the officers is seen spraying him with pepper-spray several times. At one point, one of the police officers ask him his ranking in the military as he is seen wearing his uniform as they force him out of his vehicle.
One of the officers then said, “You made this way more difficult than it had to be if you just complied,” as he demanded for him to get out of his car.
In the lawsuit, Nazario says that the officers racially profiled him and threatened to kill him. He continued to state that their actions may have negatively affected his military career.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
