Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) announced on Monday evening that his Office of Civil Rights would be investigating an incident in which a police officer pepper sprayed a uniformed Black Army medic named Lt. Caron Nazario during a traffic stop in December.
âBut itâs also important to find out: Is this is an isolated incidentâ
I hope he doesnât have to spend too much money on this research.
IMO, this has happened many timesâŚit just wasnât caught on cameraâŚand they have gotten away with itâŚwhy are white men so afraid of black men?
Hereâs hoping officer Gutierrez will soon be in a position to shorten the delay in getting permanent plates.
âIâm afraid what may be uncovered if we do a full investigation into the improper use of force on minorities and people of color by law enforcement officers.â
âYeah, you should be.â
The offending officer made a mistake. He thought he was reaching for his service revolver but instead grabbed his pepper spray.
Not sure that gender will ultimately make a difference in the way this case is perceived and handled, but it just might.
She is white.
KKK kops slap down a Black man driving a new car. SOP.
This is not the face of America I want to see.
Do you mean that (people might think) she was more afraid sheâd be attacked than a man would have been?
Even while growing up as a Black man in Oklahoma, I was never subjected to anything like the recent incidents when being pulled over for routine traffic stops. Of course, I had been given âthe speechâ by my parents, and I am generally non-confrontational, but now I suspect I was just really lucky! I never realized how central the control and subjugation of minorities: especially Black men, seems to be to policing in the U.S.
Sheâs a 26 year âveteran of the department.â
And all this reflects systemic problems with training across the country. Until changes are made with the trainers, itâll continue.
That actually wasnât what I was thinking, but I wouldnât be surprised if that might be a defensive argument (although I think the audio kind of negates that).
I was posing the (purely abstract from my side) question because this time it wasnât a âwhite manâ but rather a âwhite womanâ â and if that might on some level result in a somewhat different reaction.
Because people tend to evaluate information on an emotional, visceral level and this is just a slightly different âtwistââŚ
The incident addressed by this TPM article concerns the pepper spraying of a citizen by a male police officer named Joe Gutierrez. I think everyone is confusing it with the event wherein a young man was shot by a female cop in Minnesota.
Male or female, officers equip their firearm on their dominant hand side and their non-lethal weapons (tasers) on their non-dominant hand side. After years on the force, reaching for the appropriate weapon should be ingrained and instinctual. This explanation stinks worse than simply remaining silent (and yes, Iâm aware that the officer did express surprise on-camera that she used the gun).
So ⌠were BOTH notices obscured by âtinted windowsâ or did the cops âchooseâ not to see? Did they drive that road constantly and KNOW that there was a well lit gas station a mile and a half down the road and STILL chose pulling their guns, pepper spray and handcuffs? Are they really THAT âunawareâ that people wonât stop on a dark road? REALLY???
No argument.
It appears two things are going on here:
Average white people and some white people in power, saw what happened to George Floyd, and their psyches were snapped in two. We are now aware of how systemic and brutal racism is in our police forces.
The racist cops are doubling down on their brutality, afraid that âthe blacksâ are taking over.
Yes, thereâs a lot of history there âŚ
AhâŚmessage received! 
EDIT: The fact that there are two police incidents in the news and on TPM, involving officer force against motorists, has clearly confused our commenters (myself included). This comment thread is for the Virginia incidentâŚbut got mixed up with the Minnesota shooting.
(Much like how the Knoxville TV news anchor got confused yesterday between the multiple shooting incidents they were covering live that day. How does one keep track of all the senseless violence these days?)