Fairfax County Police Watch: Police misconduct November 28 through December 1

Its time to have a national conversation about the national police problem

"Fairfax County Police, where having punk attitude will get you promoted"

Lawsuits the taxpayers paid to settle cop behavior: This week $110,000

Embezzling
An Acadia Parish Louisiana deputy has pled guilty to theft for embezzling money from the department and aggravated battery for shooting her ex-husband in the back multiple times during a dispute.

A Lee County Florida sheriff’s sergeant has resigned after an investigation into unspecified improper conduct & gross negligence allegations.

A Madison County Tennessee deputy has been indicted on theft charges for using his county gas card to buy gas for personal use.

An Indiana State Police commander has been arrested on 17 felony theft & forgery charges after an investigation into allegations that he used his position to embezzle $90,000.

A Santa Fe County New Mexico deputy has resigned while under investigation over allegations that he embezzled over $1,000 in union funds, most of which were intended to assist officers experiencing financial difficulties.

The standard assault charges we've all come to expect

Two Russell County Alabama deputies and a Phenix City Alabama cop have been suspended without pay while they are under investigation after a handcuffed suspect they arrested was assaulted.

Police in West Deer Township and Indiana Township Pennsylvania are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a woman and her daughter alleging that officers beat them after they flagged one of them down to report an assault.

A Long Branch New Jersey cop has pled guilty to a disorderly person charge for breaking a man’s jaw when he punched him outside of a nightclub.

Dayton Ohio has settled a lawsuit for $15,000 to a man claiming a cop struck him in the face with the butt of his gun while he was on the ground. The officer was actually fired over the incident and for allegedly lying about it but an arbitrator overturned the disciplinary action and forced the department to rehire the officer.

El Paso TX has settled a lawsuit for a mere $15,000 to a man, now 81-years-old, who was beaten unconscious by a 6’3″ 270lb undercover cop after the elderly man asked him why he was parked next to his home when a neighbor, a former cop himself, called to tell him about the suspicious car. Apparently the officer was never disciplined over the incident.

The Niagra Falls New York police department has entered into an agreement with the New York state AG to reform their use of force policies along with their internal investigation and citizen complaint processes after an investigation into multiple complaints against the department.

A Coronado California cop was ruled to have used excessive force when he used a taser on an unarmed man during a traffic stop for a minor infraction. While the 9th Circuit Court made the ruling in favor of the victim, it also ruled that the officer had qualified immunity to the lawsuit in question.

Portland Oregon has settled a lawsuit for $21,000 to a cop who claims that he was banished to an evidence warehouse as retaliation for attempting to report concerns he had about an officer who he thought was too aggressive. That officer was involved in a high-profile fatal excessive force case prior to the officer’s complaint.

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania has settled a lawsuit for $44,500 to a man who was pistol whipped then shot in the hand by an off-duty cop who mistakenly thought he was part of a group of men he claims assaulted him. While the officer was never convicted or disciplined for the act, he is to pay $4,500 of the settlement amount to the victim, which will be paid for by the officer’s insurance carrier… which means he suffered no consequences whatsoever.

A Shreveport LA police sergeant has been suspended after being charged with simple battery for allegedly striking a woman in the face during an argument.

A Perry Township Ohio cop is the subject of an excessive force lawsuit filed by the mother of a man who was left with severe brain damage when he fell head-first off of an 8-foot-tall fence after he was tasered by an officer who was chasing him.

                                                                           Theft
A Harford County Maryland sheriff’s major has been fired after being arrested for shoplifting at the same Home Depot where he was arrested earlier this year on the same charge. The major made over $100,000 a year.

A Miami Beach Florida police sergeant was sentenced to probation in a plea deal for leaving scene of accident w/injuries. Several other charges against him were dropped including grand theft, failing to render aid and filing a false insurance claim related to the incident where alcohol use was suspected when he injured three women while driving the wrong way then fleeing the scene.

                                                                           Extortion
A LaFollette TN cop has been suspended while he’s under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation over unspecified extortion allegations.

                                                                             Bribery
A San Francisco California cop has been charged with bribery in a taxi driver test cheating scheme that he is accused of participating in prior to his retirement

An Anderson County South Carolina deputy has been indicted by the attorney general’s office on 3 official misconduct and bribery-related charges.

                                                                          Threatening
A Pinal County Arizona deputy who was the subject of scrutiny over a questionable shooting claim has been suspended while under investigation over allegations that he made veiled threats to a reporter after an interview.

A Caledonia Wisconsin cop has been charged after an investigation into allegations that he pointed his gun at a fellow officer on two occasions, allegedly because he didn’t like being teased.

                                                                            Narcotics
A Nettleton Mississippi cop has been suspended after he was arrested on a felony cocaine possession charge during a drug sting targeting a dealer who was also arrested.

Two Bexar County Texas deputies assigned to the narcotics unit have been indicted on perjury, official oppression and theft by a public servant charges.

An Edinburg TX Independent School District cop has been arrested for possession of a controlled substance after police found an alleged stash of cocaine under his seat during a traffic stop.

A Columbus IN cop has accepted a plea deal to an official misconduct charge for falsely reporting that drugs found on the jail floor belonged to a female detainee.

                                                            Usual violent nut job behavior
A San Diego California cop is under investigation after accused of using a knife to slash tents belonging to homeless people, sometimes while they were still inside.

An Oakley Michigan cop is under investigation after allegedly firing at least four rounds from his service firearm while off-duty after he was escorted out of a bar.

A Stamford CT cop is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man claiming the officer confiscated his cell phone then proceded to share explicit photos of himself and his girlfriend that were stored on his phone with his friends.

A Riverdale GA cop is the subject of a lawsuit alleging that he left a man he detained handcuffed inside his police car with the heat on in the summer while parked at a restaurant for hours just to “teach him a lesson”.

                                          “I’m a cop because Walmart isn’t hiring” behavior
An Austin Texas cop is accused of tackling a deaf woman from behind and arresting her on a resisting arrest charge for ignoring his verbal commands to stop after he witnessed her and her friend signing to each other in an animated fashion and thought they were fighting. The article goes on to describe other cases that allegedly demonstrate a pattern of problems the police there have dealing with the hearing impaired.

The Cuthbert Georgia police chief and a Randolph County Georgia deputy are under investigation over an alleged fist fight the two got into with each other. The chief claims it was just a verbal argument.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.