Police in the small town of Windsor, Virginia, found themselves in the national spotlight after being hit by a lawsuit from an army officer, who is Black and Latino, following a traffic stop last December.
In body camera and cell phone video, the Army second lieutenant, Caron Nazario, still in his uniform, can be seen with his hands visible from the window of his new car.
“I have not committed any crime,” said Nazario.
When two Windsor police officers, guns drawn, ordered him to leave, he said, “I’m really scared to get out.”
“Yes dude, you should be,” replies an officer.
In the video, Nazario repeatedly asks why he was arrested, and one of the two officers sprays and kicks him. He is then handcuffed while the police search his car.
Nazario asks, “Why am I treated like this? Why?”
“Because you are not cooperating,” responds an officer.
Lawyer Jonathan Arthur, who represents Nazario in a lawsuit filed against the two agents earlier this month, said he feared something bad would happen if he took his hands out of sight.
“To unfasten his seat belt, to do something, to make any misstep – he was afraid they were going to kill him,” Arthur said.
The incident report said that Nazario was initially detained for not showing any tags on his SUV, but the temporary dealer plaque is visible in the officer’s body camera video.
Nazario was released without being charged.
“What prompted him to file a file is the need to stop this behavior,” Arthur said. “The need to hold these two agents to account and make sure they can’t do it again.”
Windsor police did not respond to a request from CBS News for comment.