WINDSOR, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from Dec. 30, 2021.
The Town of Windsor asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring for having a "pattern of discriminatory policing."
The lawsuit is a follow-up to when two Windsor Police officers pulled over Army Lt. Caron Nazario for not having a visible rear license plate, then pointed guns at him, and pepper-sprayed him. The incident happened in December 2020.
According to court records, Nazario had a temporary license plate taped to his back window. He was in uniform, stayed calm through the interaction, and told the officers who were pointing guns at him that he was afraid to get out of his vehicle.
After an internal investigation, the town fired one of the officers, Joe Gutierrez, for not following police policy.
Shortly after that, in April 2021, Herring's office asked the police department for use-of-force records going back 10 years and complaints that involved traffic stops, use of force, and "treatment on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin."
Herring filed the suit at the end of December, just weeks before leaving office.
A spokesman said Herring's office found evidence that Windsor police officers would disproportionately pull over Black drivers for traffic stops and disproportionately search the cars of Black drivers.
Investigators also allegedly found discrepancies in the number of traffic stops reported to the town council, and those reported to the Virginia State Police.
In response, the city argued that Herring's suit didn't provide other examples of alleged racial discrimination by officers, used population data that didn't factor drivers from other places and used traffic stop data that could be skewed by a “major thoroughfare."
The response was filed in the Isle of Wight County Circuit Court. 13News Now has reached out to the office of current Attorney General Jason Miyares for a comment on the situation.