{"id":21195,"date":"2022-08-02T21:12:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T21:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/08\/02\/no-charges-for-officer-who-pepper-sprayed-army-lieutenant\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:17:20","slug":"no-charges-for-officer-who-pepper-sprayed-army-lieutenant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2022\/08\/02\/no-charges-for-officer-who-pepper-sprayed-army-lieutenant\/","title":{"rendered":"No charges for officer who pepper-sprayed Army lieutenant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NORFOLK, Va. \u2014 A former police officer in Virginia should not be criminally charged but should be investigated for potential civil rights violations after he pepper-sprayed, struck and handcuffed a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/04\/10\/army-lieutenant-sues-police-for-pepper-spraying-threatening-him-during-stop\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Black Army lieutenant<\/a> during a 2020 traffic stop, a special prosecutor has determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prosecutor\u2019s findings are the latest fallout from a confrontation involving two police officers and a uniformed military officer that drew outrage and national attention to the small town of Windsor, about 70 miles southeast of Richmond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The man who was pulled over, Caron Nazario, was never charged. Video of the December 2020 traffic stop surfaced in April 2021 after Nazario&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/04\/10\/army-lieutenant-sues-police-for-pepper-spraying-threatening-him-during-stop\/\">sued in federal court,<\/a>&nbsp;alleging that his constitutional rights were violated. The images sparked outrage and served as a grim reminder to many Black Americans that a military uniform doesn\u2019t necessarily protect against mistreatment by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/04\/18\/police-mistreatment-of-black-service-members-common-even-before-virginia-case\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21099708057021.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Police mistreatment of Black service members common even before Virginia case<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The traffic stop of Lt. Caron Nazario in rural Virginia was a grim reminder to many Black Americans that even being in military uniform doesn&#039;t necessarily protect them from mistreatment by police.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December, then-Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring\u2019s office&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/business-police-richmond-lawsuits-discrimination-e71eeb4dda79973a177e2f6ebe165d92\">sued the town<\/a>, alleging that it operated in a way that discriminated against Black Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the officers, Joe Gutierrez, was fired from the department. He was the target of the special prosecutor\u2019s criminal probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlthough I find the video very disturbing and frankly unsettling, Gutierrez\u2019s use of force to remove Nazario did not violate state law as he had given multiple commands for Nazario to exit the vehicle,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.robertslaw.org\/Nazario\/Windsor%20Special%20Prosecution%20Opinion.pdf\">special prosecutor Anton Bell<\/a>&nbsp;said in his report, dated July 29 and posted online by Nazario\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe problematic issue, however, were Gutierrez\u2019s statements throughout the entire ordeal, which would lead a reasonable person to wonder whether underlying bias was at the root of how and why Nazario was treated in like manner,\u201d Bell wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bell\u2019s findings were first reported Monday by The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident began when Nazario was driving home from his duty station, according to his lawsuit. Officer Daniel Crocker radioed that he was attempting to stop a vehicle with no rear license plate and tinted windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crocker said the driver was \u201celuding police\u201d and he considered it a \u201chigh-risk traffic stop,\u201d according to a report that\u2019s included in the lawsuit. One of Nazario\u2019s attorneys, Jonathan Arthur, later explained that Nazario was trying to stop in a well-lit area \u201cfor officer safety and out of respect for the officers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other officer, Gutierrez, was driving by and decided to join the traffic stop, the lawsuit stated. By the time the two officers reached Nazario\u2019s SUV, the license plate was visible in the rear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Nazario stopped at a well-lit gas station, the two officers immediately drew their guns and pointed them at Nazario, his lawsuit alleges. The officers then attempted to pull Nazario out of the vehicle while he continued to keep his hands in the air. Gutierrez pepper-sprayed Nazario multiple times as the officers yelled for him to get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At one point, Gutierrez told Nazario he was \u201cfixin\u2019 to ride the lightning,\u201d a reference to the electric chair that was also a line from the movie \u201cThe Green Mile,\u201d a film about a Black man facing execution, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nazario got out and asked for a supervisor. Gutierrez responded with \u201cknee-strikes\u201d to his legs, knocking him to the ground, the lawsuit says. The two officers struck him multiple times, then handcuffed and interrogated him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The traffic stop was captured on Nazario\u2019s cellphone as well as the officer\u2019s body-worn cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tom Roberts, another attorney representing Nazario, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a judge or a jury, not a special prosecutor, should have determined whether Gutierrez violated the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think that there\u2019s sufficient evidence to show that he was intentional in his actions,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd I believe that he exceeded any authority to use force, and therefore he committed assault and battery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roberts said that would have been a misdemeanor offense, for which the statute of limitations is one year, well before the special prosecutor released his findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll too often, when it comes to law enforcement violating the laws, we see our Commonwealth\u2019s Attorneys fail to apply the same zeal at prosecuting law enforcement as they do with other offenders,\u201d Roberts\u2019 firm said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Becker Mumford Jr., an attorney listed for Gutierrez in Nazario\u2019s lawsuit, did not respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bell, the special prosecutor, wrote that he asked the local U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office to review the case for possible civil rights violations. Karoline Foote, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Tuesday that the office had no comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February, the town of Windsor&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/police-richmond-lawsuits-discrimination-race-and-ethnicity-69dbd0850f6b81744773c4e456eb67d7\">asked a court to dismiss<\/a>&nbsp;the state attorney general\u2019s lawsuit, arguing that it only refers to one person \u2014 Nazario \u2014 \u201cin a cursory and inconclusive manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jason Miyares, who defeated Herring in November\u2019s election, took over as Virginia\u2019s AG in January. Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Miyares\u2019 office, said Tuesday that the lawsuit is still pending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A special prosecutor in Virginia says the former police officer should be investigated by the local U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for civil rights 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By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>No charges for officer who pepper-sprayed Army lieutenant - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A special prosecutor in Virginia says the former police officer should be investigated by the local U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for civil rights violations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No charges for officer who pepper-sprayed Army lieutenant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A special prosecutor in Virginia says the former police officer should be investigated by the local U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for civil rights violations.\" \/>\n<meta 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