NORFOLK, Va. — After more than two years, Lt. Caron Nazario's lawsuit against two Windsor Police Officers will go to trial.
“I am happy to finally get this trial in front of a jury,” said Jonathan Arthur, Nazario’s attorney. “That is what we have been pushing for a long time.”
Lt. Nazario sued former officer Joe Gutierrez and Officer Daniel Crocker after the duo stopped him at a Windsor gas station for not having a visible rear license plate.
Body camera video recorded the violent stop. Nazario is suing both officers for excessive force, false imprisonment, and illegal search of his car.
The video went viral. Ahead of the trial, Nazario’s attorney Jonathan Arthur said court officials are questioning a larger pool of jurors to weed out bias.
“We will get those questions back long before calling the jury to be seated, so we can weed out jurors not capable to deliver a fair and impartial verdict,” Arthur said.
Last week Arthur also filed paperwork asking a judge to exclude or limit testimony from a potential defense witness, Kenneth Wallentine.
According to Wallentine’s website, he is the Chief of a Utah Police Department and serves as a use-of-force consultant in court cases. In court documents, Arthur said Wallentine only states his opinion in proposed testimony. He writes that Wallentine states Nazario “resisted arrest by remaining seated” and “suffered no apparent injury during this stop”.
As the federal trial approaches, Attorneys for Gutierrez and Crocker also tell 13News Now they are prepared:
“The federal Constitutional claims relating to unlawful seizure, excessive force, and alleged First Amendment violations have already been favorably decided for the officers and have been dismissed. The remaining counts for trial pertain only to common law tort claims of assault, battery, and false imprisonment for which the doctrine of qualified immunity does not apply. We feel that once a jury has heard all of the evidence, judgment will be entered for the defendants. The incident was caused by Mr. Nazario’s actions and not those of the officers.”
Arthur said Nazario is ready to get this case in front of a jury.
“I think we are ready to go ahead and let the community speak as to what standards it wants to hold its law enforcement to,” Arthur said.
Arthur said the trial is expected to last about a week. It will take place in Richmond.
In August, a judge did dismiss some of Nazario’s claims against the officers for alleged first amendment violations during the traffic stop, citing qualified immunity.