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A Virginia State trooper is under investigation for a traffic stop last year during which he can be heard on video telling a black driver “you are going to get your a-- whooped,” before forcefully removing the man from his car, authorities said Wednesday.
The incident came to light when an attorney representing Derrick Thompson, the driver, sent a letter to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring on Monday claiming that Trooper Charles Hewitt unconstitutionally assaulted his client during the stop on I-495 in Fairfax County on April 20, 2019. The attorney also tweeted video of the encounter that Thompson recorded with his cellphone.
The Virginia State Police superintendent, Col. Gary T. Settle, has reviewed the two-minute cellphone video clip, according to a statement from the Virginia State Police.
“The conduct displayed by Trooper Hewitt during the course of the traffic stop is not in agreement with the established standards of conduct required of a Virginia trooper. Nor is it characteristic of the service provided daily across the Commonwealth of Virginia by Virginia State Police personnel,” Settle said in the statement.