April 11th local time, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced on Sunday that he had instructed the state police department to threaten two police officers in Windsor Town and An independent investigation into the beating of a black American second lieutenant was launched.
The officer has filed a lawsuit against two police officers on the matter.
Last week, a video of U.S. police law enforcement against an African-Latin American military officer spread online and has been viewed more than 11 million times.
The video shows that on the evening of December 5 last year, after the officer in an SUV and in military uniform pulled over at the request of the police, two policemen drew their guns and pointed out at him, who was still sitting in the cab and shouted for him to get out of the car.
During this period, the officer repeatedly asked what had happened, and said, “To be honest, I dare not get out of the car.” One of the officers responded, “Yes, you should be afraid.” A few seconds later, a police officer used pepper spray on the officer.
After Nazario got out of the car, two policemen used violent measures against him, forcing him to lay on the ground and handcuffing him.
The black officer in the video is reported to be 27-year-old second lieutenant Carolon Nazario of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and the two police officers are Windsor Town Police Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Cro. cker). At the time of the incident, Nazario was driving his new car to Petersburg, Virginia after weekend training, but was asked to pull over by police on the way. Police said that he drove an unlicensed vehicle and “evaded law enforcement” and believed that there might be “high-risk” personnel in the car. However, police law enforcement recorders showed that Nazario’s car had temporary license plates on the rear window.
In response to the incident that happened last December, Nazario filed a lawsuit this month in federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia against two police officers involved, accusing them of illegally searching their vehicles, using excessive force, and filing claims of up to $1 million. In the indictment, Nazario also accused the police of threatening him, claiming that if he dared to accuse the police of his behavior, the police would destroy his military career by issuing multiple criminal charges against him.
In addition, Nazario also claimed in the indictment that after he got out of the car, a police officer hit his legs with his knees, knocking him down. Subsequently, two policemen beat him and handcuffed him for questioning.
It should be noted that the indictment also states that after receiving the police’s order to pull over, Nazario did not immediately stop because of the darkness outside, but slowed down the speed and turned on the turn signal, and stopped at a bright gas station less than a mile away. Then came a scene in the video disseminated on the Internet. Nazario was eventually acquitted.
The encounter of Nazario has caused strong outrage throughout the United States, attracted widespread attention in Virginia politics and the news media, and triggered another round of discussion on the reform of the U.S. police department. Virginia Governor Northam said in a statement on the 11th that the incident was “disturbing” and angered him. He had instructed the state police to investigate the matter and would invite Nazario to meet him.
According to NBC, a statement issued by the Windsor Township Police Department on the 11th said that one of the police officers involved, Gutierrez, had been fired. Guterres admitted in his law enforcement report that he hit Nazario’s legs with his knees on the grounds of preventing the opponent from resisting arrest.
It is worth mentioning that in order to cover up misconduct in law enforcement, the two police officers involved also made “almost the same” misstatement in their law enforcement reports, claiming that Nazario refused to raise his hands and even hit the policeman’s hand when he was asked to get out of the car. However, the exposed law enforcement video shows that Nazario has been cooperating with the police, holding his hands all the time, and has not hit the police personnel.
