Incidents

An officer shot 34-year-old Taylor Lee Drew on July 22, 2023 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Drew was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A FOIA request by Josh Stanfield returned over a thousand pages of correspondence pertaining to Latoya Benton, the mother of Xzavier Hill, who is currently suing Benjamin Bone and Seth Layton, her son's killers, in court.

The emails show officers, including Layton's father (Fredericksburg Chief of Police Brian Layton), following Benton's posts on social media.

At a protest during the George Floyd Uprising of 2020, Fredericksburg Police used tear gas two minutes after declaring the event an unlawful assembly.

Although the police themselves in an internal investigation ruled their actions were justified, an independent review by the Police Executive Research Forum determined the officers were too quick and too aggressive in deploying gas on the crowd.

Body camera footage revealed during the investigation also showed FPD officers patrolling the streets and engaging in "crowd control" tactics against protesters while carrying large patrol rifles, which is prohibited by department policy.

Several individuals sued the City of Fredericksburg for FPD's actions.

"I'm waiting in parking lot area of the town homes, and an officer arrives," a court complaint (Parker v. Loren et al. Case No. 1:13-cv-00927-AJT-MSN, Document 1, filed 7/31/2013) filed by Antonio D. Parker naming Aimee Scott Loren #333, C. C. Dobson #348, Dana Nielsen, Ryan Merrell, and the Fredericksburg Police Department, and others, reads.

"Officer [John] Doe #338 [Caucasian] male age 25-30 [height] 5"10 weight 185. He didn't ask me any questions or give any commands he deployed his [TASER]. In this area the police are very [aggressive]. He was on edge[, and] he deliberately shot me with his department-issued weapon and panic[k]ed, I had my hands up.

'I asked him why he would draw a weapon on me[,] I didn't do anything[,] he quoted [sic], 'Shut up or I'll f*g tazer [sic] you again.' He cuffed me [and] threw me in the back seat of his cruiser and [abruptly] left the scene... I was not allowed to leave the patrol car [and] I never talked to [the] magistrate. The plaintiff received 16 years for this," Antonio Parker, who is Black, wrote in his complaint filed with Virginia Eastern District Court.

A civil rights complaint filed by Christopher Scott Jones named Benjamin Johnson, Badge #331 of the Fredericksburg Police Department, alleging wrongful arrest. The case file is numbered 3:2011-cv-00001 in PACER.