RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A small city in southeastern Virginia has requested a decide to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges its police division has operated in a method that led to discrimination towards Black individuals and violated their constitutional rights.
In a courtroom submitting Monday, the city of Windsor referred to as the allegations made within the lawsuit filed by former Virginia Lawyer Normal Mark Herring “misguided and conclusory.”
Herring filed the lawsuit in December, shortly earlier than leaving workplace. The courtroom motion got here after an investigation by Herring’s workplace that was prompted by a December 2020 site visitors cease involving two Windsor law enforcement officials and Caron Nazario, an Military lieutenant who’s Black and Latino.
Physique digicam video of the site visitors cease confirmed the officers drawing their weapons, pointing them at Nazario and utilizing a slang time period to counsel he was dealing with execution earlier than pepper-spraying him and knocking him to the bottom. The video led to widespread outrage when it surfaced months later, when Nazario sued the 2 officers. Since then, no less than one of many officers has been fired.
In a information launch issued when he filed the lawsuit, Herring stated his investigation confirmed “that this incident was indicative of a lot bigger issues throughout the division.” He additionally stated there have been “enormous disparities in enforcement towards African American drivers, and a troubling lack of insurance policies and procedures to forestall discriminatory or unconstitutional policing.”
Of their courtroom submitting, attorneys for the city stated the lawsuit solely refers to at least one individual — Caron Nazario — “in a cursory and inconclusive method.” In addition they say Herring “has no affordable grounds to imagine {that a} sample or apply of conduct by legislation enforcement officers of the city” has disadvantaged individuals of their rights beneath state or federal legal guidelines.
“The Lawyer Normal’s claims of disproportionate site visitors stops of Blacks don’t exclude different acts which legitimately trigger grounds for site visitors and investigatory stops, reminiscent of the quantity of autos travelling by means of the City of Windsor, the age of those motorists, and the residency of those motorists,” legal professional John Conrad wrote within the submitting.
After Herring filed the lawsuit, the city issued a prolonged assertion denying the allegations and calling Herring’s choice to file the swimsuit simply weeks earlier than he left workplace “clearly political.”
The city’s assertion stated the lawsuit cited “questionable information on the amount and nature of site visitors stops and searches,” with out offering extra specifics. It additionally stated that the city’s police division had taken steps in 2021 to extend coaching and accountability, steps that had been mentioned with Herring’s workplace a number of weeks earlier than he filed the swimsuit.
The lawsuit asks the courtroom to enjoin the city and its workers from participating in discriminatory legislation enforcement practices and that the city be required to rent an unbiased monitor to make sure it’s complying with state and federal legislation.
Windsor, with a inhabitants of about 3,000, is about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Richmond. It has a seven-member police drive.
Herring, a Democrat, was defeated by Republican Jason Miyares in November. Miyares, who took workplace on Jan. 15, declined to touch upon the lawsuit Tuesday by means of a spokesperson.
