From [HERE] and [HERE] Friday marked day five in the controversial lawsuit involving a U.S. Army lieutenant and two Windsor police officers, with the jury deliberations now on hold for the long weekend.

Lt. Caron Nazario is suing officer Daniel Crocker and now-former officer Joe Gutierrez for claims of assault and battery, false imprisonment and illegal search during a traffic stop in 2020.

Closing arguments began around 1 p.m. Friday and continued until 5:30pm.

The plaintiffs called their last witness Friday morning, Nazario’s battalion commander Lt. Charles Reinhold.

The U.S. Army lieutenant who was pepper sprayed, struck and handcuffed by police in rural Virginia, but never arrested, will argue to a jury that police assaulted and falsely imprisoned and that his vehicle was illegally searched.

Video of the 2020 traffic stop got millions of views the next year after Caron Nazario filed the federal lawsuit that is now being heard, highlighting fears of mistreatment among Black drivers and intensifying the scrutiny of the boundaries of reasonable, and legal, police conduct.

The episode also served as a grim signal to many Black Americans that military uniforms don’t necessarily protect against abuse of authority by law enforcement. [MORE]