San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
State sues town, alleging biased police practices
Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit last week against the town of Windsor, seeking changes in policing and saying that his office’s months-long investigation uncovered evidence of discriminatory, unconstitutional policing.
The Windsor Police came under scrutiny after an incident Dec. 5, 2020, when police officers threatened and pepper-sprayed Caron Nazario, a Black and Latino military officer, at a traffic stop, an encounter that was caught on camera.
“While our investigation was spurred by the egregious treatment against Lt. Nazario that we all saw in bodycam footage, we discovered that this incident was indicative of much larger problems within the department,” said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.
The investigation revealed “huge disparities in enforcement against African American drivers, and a troubling lack of policies and procedures to prevent discriminatory or unconstitutional policing,” the statement said.
This was the first time the state of Virginia has sued a law enforcement agency under a new law that gives the attorney general the right to do so in cases involving civil rights violations. About 2,600 people live in Windsor, a town roughly 70 miles southeast of Richmond.
Chief Rodney Daniel Riddle of the Windsor Police emailed a “statement from the town” and the police department that said the decision to file a lawsuit against Windsor was “clearly political.”
“Windsor, including its police department, remains vigilant in protecting the rights of all residents of the town, Isle of Wight County, Commonwealth of Virginia and nation, regardless of race or gender, who pass through its limits,” the statement said.
In April, an officer involved in the stop of Nazario, Joe Gutierrez, was fired from the police department. The attorney general announced an investigation that month.