Windsor police chief RD Riddle told reporters on Wednesday that an internal investigation into the police encounter has been launched three days after the traffic stop. Without elaborating, Riddle said disciplinary action had been taken after the investigation was completed at the end of January. Riddle said the camera footage of the incident was released to Lieutenant Nazario’s attorney in December.
The chief called the handling of the traffic stop “a learning moment” for his seven officer division. Although the two agents de-escalated their use of force by switching from their weapons to Tasers and eventually pepper spray, Riddle said they missed opportunities to verbally defuse the situation.
When asked about Nazario’s actions, the chief said, “Lt. Nazario took certain actions that led to where we arrived.”
“At the end of the day, I’m glad no one was hurt. That situation ended in the best possible way. I wish he had complied much sooner,” Riddle said of the army officer.
“The statements of the Windsor police chief today demonstrate the systematic police troubles leading to civil rights violations across the country,” Nazario’s attorney Jonathan Arthur said in a statement Wednesday. “The chief continues a false story and accuses the victim. He claims Second Lieutenant Nazario did not comply. The video shows otherwise.”
Arthur noted that Nazario was indeed injured – from the pepper spray and his treatment by the police.
One of the agents has been fired
On Sunday, Town Manager William Saunders confirmed that one of the officers, Joe Gutierrez, had been fired after an investigation into the use of violence. The other officer, Daniel Crocker, is still working.
Riddle said Gutierrez’s use of the phrase “ride the lightning” in reference to the Taser during the incident was “inappropriate and caused unnecessary fear.”
“I lost faith in his ability to continue to serve the community according to the standards we expected of him,” the chief said of Gutierrez. “I personally felt that there was no way he could serve our community more effectively.”
CNN has unsuccessfully tried to reach Gutierrez and Crocker for comment. It is unclear whether they have legal representation.
Riddle said both Gutierrez and Crocker had come to Windsor police in the past year. Gutierrez was “an accomplished officer” and served as a field training officer for Crocker, who had recently graduated from police academy, the chief said.
Riddle said he believes, by watching video of the meeting, that Crocker “made an attempt to verbally de-escalate that situation.” He said he has known Crocker since the officer was 14.
“He’s lived in the town of Windsor all his life,” he said of Crocker. “He wants to serve his community and I have no doubt that with some extra training and a few more years under his belt, he will continue to serve his community well.”
Saunders said city council had expressed ‘full support’ for Riddle after a meeting on Tuesday night. “Me too,” said Saunders.
Virginia AG starts investigation
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said on Monday that his office is investigating whether there was a “pattern of misconduct” in the Windsor Police Department.
Herring formally requested information from the police, saying he was “deeply concerned” about a traffic stop in which the officers were behaving in a way that the attorney general called “dangerous, unnecessary, unacceptable and avoidable”.
Herring told CNN Monday night that the agents’ actions were “terrible.”
“And people of color continue to experience cruelty and are being sprayed with pepper spray, even killed by law enforcement officials, and it has to stop,” he said.
“One of the things I’m looking at is whether there may have been a pattern of misconduct – of police misconduct, either by these officers in particular or more broadly within the department.”
Herring’s Civil Rights Office has requested documents or other documentation prepared by Windsor Police in relation to the meeting with the agents on December 5, 2020; personnel records of the two WPD officers involved; WPD policies regarding the use of force, traffic stops, de-escalation, and association with members of the public; and complaints received by the WPD related to the use of force over the past 10 years.
“Without fair use of the policy of violence, I could say that this behavior is permissible,” said Herring.
Arthur said Nazario had good reason to fear for his life. Guns were drawn as police approached his car and officers made conflicting demands on him, he said. In body camera footage, Gutierrez hears to Nazario that he was “about to ride a lightning bolt, son,” which describes the lawsuit as an “informal phrase for an execution,” especially with regard to the electric chair.
The officers sprayed pepper and pushed Nazario to the ground during the traffic stop – initiated because the police officers believed the army officer was missing a license plate number on his new SUV, the lawsuit said.
“You do everything right, you slow down, you submit to the authority of law enforcement, you do the right thing, you wait for a well-lit place to stop. You are on a dark road – you don’t want someone who can get hurt -” and then the cops will turn around and pay back your courtesy, ”Arthur said.
CNN’s Madeline Holcombe, Dakin Andone, Chris Boyette, Anjali Huynh, Hollie Silverman, Elizabeth Joseph, Gregory Clary and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.