2 police officers used excessive force, threatened Army officer during traffic stop, lawsuit says - CNN

"I'm honestly afraid to get out," Nazario is heard telling the officers after they've approached the vehicle with weapons drawn and order him to exit the vehicle.

"Yeah," Gutierrez says, "you should be."

Driver repeatedly asked police why he was pulled over

Nazario, who was in uniform, was driving a new Chevrolet Tahoe on December 5, 2020, when he was pulled over, the lawsuit says.

Gutierrez wrote the officers decided to conduct "a high risk traffic stop," citing the lack of vehicle tag, the driver's delay in stopping and the vehicle's "extremely dark window tint."

Crocker orders Nazario to show his hands.

"What's going on?"

The officers approach the SUV, and Nazario says, "I'm serving this country, and this is how I'm treated?" Gutierrez responds that he is a veteran and "learned to obey."

Gutierrez is heard telling Nazario he was "fixin' to ride the lightning, son," which the lawsuit describes as a "colloquial expression for an execution," particularly in reference to the electric chair.

Nazario then replied he was afraid to and Gutierrez told him he should be.

Gutierrez then tells the lieutenant he was pulled over for a "traffic violation" and is being "detained" for "obstruction of justice" because he was not cooperating.

The bodycam footage shows Nazario with his hands up and outside the window as the officers try to open his door.

"You made this way more difficult than it had to be if you'd just complied," Gutierrez is heard saying in the body camera footage.

In the footage, the officers wrestle Nazario to the ground and handcuff him while he repeatedly says, "This is f**ked up."

Footage shows reflects trend, lawsuit says

Paramedics arrive soon after to treat Nazario for the pepper spray.

At Nazario's request, Crocker also opens the back window of the vehicle for the dog, who is in a crate in the back.

Bodycam footage shows Gutierrez telling Nazario he understood the lieutenant chose to continue driving before stopping at the gas station for safety reasons, and that it "happens all the time" and "80% of the time -- not always -- it's a minority."

The officers ultimately released Nazario without charges.

But the lawsuit claims the officers "engaged in conduct in an attempt to extort" Nazario's silence by saying "in no uncertain terms" that unless he "were to remain silent" the officers would "charge him with multiple crimes" and "destroy his military career."

In the bodycam footage, Gutierrez is heard telling Nazario he had spoken with the police chief and had two options: the officers could either wait with him until he could drive home -- "go do your deployment, go continue serving my country" -- and release him without charges.

Taken together, Nazario's lawsuit says, the footage is indicative of a wider trend among police officers in the US.