SUFFOLK, Va. — UPDATE: A hearing for the Virginia attorney general's lawsuit against the Town of Windsor alleging "discriminatory, unconstitutional policing" was continued Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit -- filed by former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, at the end of December 2021 -- alleges the Windsor Police Department operated in a way that led to discrimination against African Americans and violated their constitutional rights.
Herring filed the lawsuit in the Isle of Wight Circuit Court about a year after a controversial traffic stop involving Caron Nazario, a Black Army lieutenant.
On Dec. 5, 2020, two Windsor police officers pulled over Nazario for not having a visible rear license plate. Body camera video showed that the officers approached with guns pointed at the car, gave conflicting instructions, and then pepper-sprayed Nazario.
A judge allowed the attorney general's case to move forward in October 2022. An attorney for Windsor had requested the lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing the complaint didn't show a pattern of incidents by the town.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge ultimately rejected the dismissal.
READ MORE | Judge: Lawsuit against Windsor over 'pattern of discriminatory policing' will go forward
Also at that time, Virginia's current attorney general, Republican Jason Miyares, amended the lawsuit to add three claims that Windsor deprived Nazario and others of their First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, therefore violating the Virginia Public Integrity and Law Enforcement Misconduct Act.
Following the traffic stop, Nazario filed a $1 million lawsuit against the two officers, Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker, alleging assault, battery, false imprisonment, and illegal search.
In a civil trial that ended in January, Crocker was found liable on an illegal search (no malice) and ordered to pay $1,000 in punitive damages. Gutierrez was found responsible for assault and ordered to pay $2,685 in damages.
Following an investigation of the traffic stop, Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell, who served as a special prosecutor, declined to file charges against Gutierrez.
In an August 2022 letter, Bell wrote that while he didn't think Gutierrez violated state law, he found the body camera video to be "disturbing" and "unsettling."