A U.S. Army officer who was detained with a gun and pepper sprayed after a traffic stop in Virginia has reportedly now indicted two police officers over racial profiling.
Lt.Caron Nazario, a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, was wearing his military fatigue when he was pulled over in Windsor on Dec. 5 for allegedly driving his new Chevy Tahoe without license plates.
A temporary paper badge plate was glued to the rear window.
Bodycam video shows officers pulling out their weapons and ordering them to get out of the vehicle.
The incident escalated rapidly when Nazario, described as Black and Latino, refused to comply and said he was afraid to get out of the vehicle.
“Yes, it must be you,” said one of the officers in response. Nazario was sprayed with pepper spray, removed from the SUV and handcuffed while laying down the ground.
“It’s fucking,” Nazario can be heard saying in the video. He apparently also recorded videos of the incident on his own cell phone.
Nazario filed a lawsuit against officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker on April 2, alleging that his rights were violated under the first and fourth amendments.
“He is a sworn member of the U.S. Army. He swears an oath to defend the United States Constitution against all foreign and domestic enemies – and the way these officials behave implies the oath he takes, ‘said Jonathan Arthur, a lawyer for Nazario, according to Vice . com
Arthur added that he hoped the lawsuit would send a message to law enforcement: “that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”