An Army lieutenant has come forward with his story of being accosted by the police, and has even filed a lawsuit against the police department of Windsor, Virginia.
Bodycam footage from December 5th of last year showed Second Lt. Caron Nazario, a black Latino man, decked out in his army gear, being pulled over in the parking lot of a gas station, where two police officers pulled him over, apparently for having a missing license plate. It turned out that Nazario had a temporary license plate on his back window, but one of the officers had apparently failed to see it.
Nazario didn’t pull over for a minute-and-a-half after the officers first flashed their lights, claiming it was to “find a well-lit area.” The officers pulled guns on Nazario immediately, who explained that he fought in the Army and that he had nothing but respect for law enforcement as they ordered him to “put (his) hands out the window” and “turn off (his) vehicle.”
However, one of the officers, Joe Gutierrez, became increasingly agitated and eventually pepper-sprayed Nazario, even though he didn’t incite any argument and wasn’t armed. Gutierrez was relieved of his duties at the police department, and his partner, Daniel Crocker, who was with him at the time, kept his job.
Now, being someone who watched this video (and was very angry at what was occurring), I must say that this trend of racism and targeting of people of color by the police department needs to stop, and fast! Too often, we have seen people from different backgrounds having guns pulled on them during routine traffic stops, whereas most people would just get a talking-to and/or a ticket, and, honestly, the excuses by the police department and the lies need to end, because it is a real tragedy to see what this country has turned into in the wake of killings of people like Wright, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so forth.
And, even more people of color have had guns pulled on them during routine traffic stops for no reason other than racism and discrimination. This was even discussed during the HBO documentary, The Day Sports Stood Still.
If someone is being pulled over for something like a missing license plate, wouldn’t it make more sense to just go up to the window, talk to them first, and, if they happen to point a gun and threaten an officer, that’s when you take action? It’s clear from the bodycam footage, and what occurred afterwards, that Nazario wasn’t in possession of any weapons, and, even if he was, he didn’t have any intentions of doing anything, because he was nothing but cooperative, in spite of what Joe Gutierrez tried to justify in his report.
George Floyd wasn’t armed when he was killed. Breonna Taylor wasn’t armed when she was killed. Daunte Wright wasn’t armed when he was killed. So, why does this trend continue? It’s sickening, and it’s clear that, even all these years later, corrective action needs to be taken to make sure that stuff like this doesn’t occur. We can only hope that, with a new President, and more political leaders looking into these issues, that we can pave the way for a better tomorrow for people of color. For now, though, it’s clear that change is still sorely needed.
