RICHMOND, Va. -- A VCU psychiatrist hired by the defense testified that Army Lt. Caron Nazario suffers "narcissistic injury" from a crushed ego after "negative feedback on social media" and he does not have PTSD resulting from a traffic stop on December 5, 2020.
Nazario has accused Officer Daniel Crocker and former Officer Joseph Gutierrez with the Windsor Police Department of assault and battery, false imprisonment and illegal search of his vehicle during that stop on U.S. 460.
The jury will have to decide if they believe the two officers acted reasonablywhen they pulled Nazario over.
If they believe the officersacted unreasonably, they will decide how much money the pair should pay Nazario for damages.
The defense hired psychiatrist Dr. Keyhill Sheorn to evaluate Nazario and testify on their behalf at a price of $6,000.
She said he does not have PTSD, an anxiety disorder or a panic disorder.
However, Nazario's attorney pointed out that she did not use the "gold standard" DSM 5 to diagnose Nazario, and that another psychiatrist hired by the defense to test Nazario did diagnose him with a psych disorder.
The plaintiff's attorney, Jonathan Arthur, pointed out that the defense did not end up calling him to testify.
"We can agree nobody would pay you that much if you weren't giving them what they wanted?" Arthur asked Sheorn during cross-examination.
"No," she replied.
Earlier in the week, another psychiatrist, Dr. James Sellman, and a psychologist, Dr. Shawn Utsey, recommended to Nazario by his attorneys, testified that he does have PTSD, general anxiety disorder and a panic disorder resulting from the traffic stop.
He's been seeing both since the fall of 2022.
After Sheorn, Crocker's team called Brandon Tatum to the stand. He worked in law enforcement for six-and-a-half years in Arizona and wrote a book called "Being Black and Blue."
Tatum also posted a YouTube video of his analysis of this traffic stop that received nearly one million views.
Tatum said that if an officer did not see a license plate, that would raise suspicion that someone was fleeing the scene of a crime.
On top of that, if an officer activated their lights, and a citizen continued to drive for 1.1 miles, Tatum said it would be reasonable for an officer to pull their gunas soon as the car pulled over.
He also said a person not getting out of the car is non-compliant and the officers have to address that non-compliance by getting the person out of the car to make sure the officer is safe.
Gutierrez's team then called Chief Kenneth Ray Wallington out of West Jordan, Utah who testified that if a citizen was not getting out of a vehicle after hearing multiple commands to do so, a reasonable officer would then move on to alternatives like pepper spray to get them out.
He also said handcuffing someone who had refused to get out of the vehicle is necessary for officer safety.
Nazario's team rebutted with their law enforcement expert, Mark Bong, who said a reasonable officer would not put his own safety first, and would instead put the public's safety first because officers are sworn to "protect and serve."
The day ended early because the final witness had to leave unexpectedly.
The court will resume at 9 a.m. on Friday with the final witness, and then closing arguments.
