Army officer sues Virginia police over violent traffic stop

I am fully aware of speed traps from "little redneck towns". I grew up in one in the deep south and was surrounded by nothing but other little towns who's main source of revenue was their speed traps.

But what's with the racist remark? What about speed traps in small towns is racist and what makes the cops in this particular incident racist? With the evidence that we have there is nothing presented to conclude that these cops were racist. For all we know they could simply hate the military, that's an actual thing and it's way more common than many believe. In my previous duty station the local cops hated the military with a passion and they treated us like that on a routine basis. I'd seen them acting hostile and aggressively towards Soldiers around town on a various number of occasions. It was so bad that we were literally briefed by Command to hide anything Army related under the seat if you get pulled over by the cops because they hate you. A lot of these places love to harass the military because they know the military has to pay if they get ticketed or fined so they go out of their way to go after us.

Or these cops could just be *******s in general. Who knows, but there is nothing presented here that points to them being racist....

 

This was the appropriate response. I still don't have the full story of how this entire incident played out, only the 1 minute footage, but optically this looks absolutely terrible if from nothing other than a PR perspective. Viral video of police officers pepper spraying and being overly aggressive to a US Army Officer in uniform is a terrible look for a department. Even if LT did do something wrong that's STILL not good optics. I would hope that if this happened to anybody the officer in question would still be fired, but when it comes to officers acting this way towards the military? Yeah...that's your ass.

 

They very well may be rednecks, that's not a slur or anything. Most of my friends and co-workers call me a redneck and I'm not even white. Redneck doesn't = racist though and that's one of those misconceptions that society tends to hold that I wish they didn't. I grew up with Rebel Flags all over the place in small towns and I have been pulled over on a number of occasions in those infamous speed traps by cops with a lip full of dip who sounded like a real life King of the Hill character. Nobody was ever rude to me or treated me anywhere near the way the cops treated this LT in this incident. And back during this time I was a young black kid driving through the rural deep south in the middle of the night with braids in my hair....In fact I've only ever gotten a ticket once in my entire life (pulled over a heck of a bunch) and it was in a speed trap in my small town but while the cop gave me a ticket for it he wasn't rude or anything. He actually shook my hand afterwards and called me Sir throughout the exchange.

I don't know if these cops were racist, they could have been. Or they could just have hated the military or they could just be *******s or any combination of the three. I just wish that society wasn't so quick to jump to the conclusion that white cop/black victim = racist automatically. Or redneck = racist.

 

They could have answered his question when he asked why they stopped him....Based on the calm demeanor, politeness, and the fact that he is a US Army Officer in uniform, I can make the assumption that LT Nazario would have said ok and stepped out of the car if they would have simply told him why.

"Hey LT could you step out of the car please?"
"What's going on Sir?"
"We noticed you didn't have any plates on your vehicle, don't worry about it it's no big deal we just have to run some paperwork real quick".
"Oh ok sure, I have plates though here they are".

The end

As an Officer in the military as well if you pull me over as a cop and you walk up and call me by my rank then you could have me doing handstands for no reason afterwards. Acknowledging my rank or even my military service as I'm in uniform is a sign of upmost respect which in turn will command you the upmost respect from me as a fellow professional in service. There's a reason why our two professions are routinely grouped together in admiration along with firefighters and first responders. We have a soft spot for cops and most cops have a soft spot for us, it's the unwritten relationship shared between military and LEO's.

Sorry this is my own bias coming out for obvious reasons but I expect the police to treat military personnel in uniform, especially Officers, better than this. I expect the police to treat anybody better than this but seeing them treat a fellow military Officer this way has struck a personal nerve.

 

If this was the result of the cop just acting on his individual accord and this isn't one of those garbage anti-military districts then I guarantee you that the Police Chief of that department has been on multiple phone calls with this LT's entire Chain of Command on his proverbial knees apologizing for this.

There's honor among thieves, a code of honor among military and cops, an unwritten brotherhood or whatever you want to call it. As a cop you don't treat the military like this, you just don't. It's one thing if the LT was in civvies and it came out later that he was an Army LT, but the fact that he was in uniform and they did this....and it was captured on camera and went viral....

What the hell were they thinking? I'm not even arguing right or wrong I'm talking purely about optics. This looks absolutely horrible from a PR standpoint. As a professional in uniform, especially a military member or a cop, there is certain stuff you just don't do, even IF you are justified in doing it, especially not to each other....

I'm a very polite and respectful person in general but when I put on my uniform and go into public and I am very conscious of carrying myself impeccably. Why? Because I understand that when I put that uniform on and the public sees me they don't see "me" they see the "Army". And as an Officer of the Army there is a certain standard of character that the public expects and that I do my best to portray as a representative of the Army. Why? Because it's all about optics and PR. If I leave a poor tip at a restaurant during lunch it doesn't get seen as I, Nightmare515, left a poor tip. It gets seen as "The Army" is cheap and rude and left a poor tip. (I tip well all the time by the way).

I would NEVER treat a cop the way these cops treated this LT while in uniform for nothing other than the fact that doing so makes my Army look bad as I am a representative of the Army while wearing that uniform and rank on my chest. And as a cop you should NEVER treat the military like that while they are in uniform and you are in uniform because we are taking this as a mistreatment not of an individual LT, but as a mistreatment and blatant disrespect of the ARMY.

Yes, we are. This story actually just blew up for some reason today. I have received no less than 5 different text messages from 5 of my co-workers saying "Bro did you see that video of those cops ****ing with that LT? What the **** man". And if 5 of my random Army buddies are talking about this then best be sure the rest of the Army is talking about this.

This was a STUPID thing for them to do.