NORFOLK, Va. — Army Lt. Caron Nazario will finally see his lawsuit go to trial on January 9, 2023, at 9:15 a.m. The civil trial will come more than two years after he was pulled over, yelled at and pepper sprayed by police officers in Windsor, court documents show.
On December 5, 2020, Nazario was driving when he was stopped by Windsor police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker. The officers said they stopped the man because they could not see a posted license plate and said that he did not pull over right away.
The officers later discovered that Nazario had a temporary license plate taped to the inside of his back window.
Attorney Jonathan Arthur, who is representing Nazario, said his client drove to a well-lit gas station.
Once at the gas station, body camera video shows Gutierrez pepper-spraying Nazario, whose hands were up out of his vehicle window. Gutierrez was later fired following an internal investigation.
Arthur said his client is suing Gutierrez and Crocker on the claims of assault, battery, false imprisonment, illegal search under state law, and illegal search under the Fourth Amendment.