WINDSOR, Va. - After five days of jury deliberation, a verdict has been reached on Tuesday in the $1.5 million lawsuit filed by Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is suing two Windsor police officers for a controversial December 2020 traffic stop.
Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker stopped Nazario for a missing rear license plate in 2020.
In police body camera video, they pulled out their guns, told him to get out of the car even though he was scared, and eventually, Gutierrez pepper sprayed him.
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The officers faced four counts: assault, battery, false imprisonment and illegal search.
For Crocker, the jury found him only liable/guilty on an illegal search, no malice. He was ordered to pay $1,000 in punitive damages and the jury did not find him guilty of false imprisonment, assault, or battery.
The jury found Gutierrez guilty of assault and must pay him $2,685 in damages, no malice. He was cleared of all false imprisonment, illegal search, and battery charges.
In August, a federal judge already ruled that Crocker is liable for an illegal search, violating the 4th amendment when he searched Nazario's car.
