By: Alyssa Wilson

A Black man, who is a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, was pepper-sprayed by police during a traffic stop in Virginia. 

Caron Nazario was traveling from a drill weekend on December 5, 2020, when police pulled him over, The New York Times reported. 

Nazario continued driving to a gas station where he pulled over for officers and put his cellphone on the dashboard. 

The two officers yelled for him to get out of the car and after he said he was afraid, one of the officers, Joe Gutierrez, responded, “You should be.” 

That officer then sprayed Nazario with pepper spray as his hands remained raised. 

The 27-year-old lieutenant has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages and he accuses the officers of illegally searching his car, using excessive force and violating his rights under the First Amendment, The New York Times reported. 

Nazario also alleges the officers threatened to destroy his military career by charging him with multiple crimes. 

BREAKING: Police officer responsible for pepper spraying Army Lt. Caron Nazario on December 5, 2020 has been fired. pic.twitter.com/c6i0TkpCsC

— Eric Cox (@EricCoxTV) April 12, 2021

The town of Windsor, Virginia, announced that officer Gutierrez was fired. 

The Town of Windsor prides itself in its small-town charm and the community-wide respect of its Police Department. Due to this, we are saddened for events like this to cast our community in a negative light. Rather than deflect criticism, we have addressed these matters with our personnel administratively, we are reaching out to community stakeholders to engage in dialogue, and commit ourselves to additional discussions in the future. 

Part of the lawsuit says the footage shows “behavior consistent with a disgusting nationwide trend of law enforcement officers, who, believing they can operate with complete impunity, engage in unprofessional, discourteous, racially biased, dangerous and sometimes deadly abuses of authority,” The Hill reported. 

Nazario is “definitely not doing too well” after the incident, his attorney told the Associated Press and he spoke to BNC’s Marc Lamont Hill on Black News Tonight. 

The lieutenant is a graduate of Virginia State University who came out of the school’s ROTC program. 

RELATED: Protests erupt in Minnesota after police shoot, kill Black man during traffic stop

Sharon Reed and Mike Hill discussed the incident on Start Your Day and Reed said it is an example of domestic terrorism.