Fairfax County Police Watch: 12/06/10

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

Asault
Key West Florida is likely to settle a lawsuit for $45,000 to a man claiming a cop used excessive force when he took him to the ground and he suffered a laceration and was falsely arrested on a stand-alone obstruction charge. An investigation sustained the man’s complaint and, while it was recommended that the officer receive a 3-day suspension and remedial training, it’s unclear if that’s how he was ultimately disciplined

York PA police accused of excessive force after video shows officer taking a swing at cuffed detainee http://is.gd/i9CFc

Beaumont TX cop found guilty of official oppression for needlessly tasering man twice during traffic stop http://is.gd/i9XLN

Tonawanda NY police captain sentenced to probation after plea deal for choking & hitting cuffed detainee w/flashlight http://is.gd/iaeGG

Cook County IL deputy suspended after arrested on allegations that he punched a woman in the head at a bar http://is.gd/i9SY2

Governemnt worker logic
A Dallas Texas cop who was once accused of putting a gun to a man’s head for urinating in public has been fired, not for that, but for double-dipping… he claims he’s being unfairly punished.

DUI
A Milwaukee Wisconsin police sergeant has been charged with driving while under the influence after he was stopped when police noticed his car swerving and found his 13-year-old daughter in the passenger seat while two other men were passed out in the back seat and covered in vomit. When questioned, the daughter said that she was driving them previously because they were all too drunk but then became lost which is when her father took the wheel.

Austin TX police SWAT officer arrested for drunk driving after wrecking unmarked patrol car in roll-over accident http://is.gd/i9E46

Porterville CA cop suspended for alleged DUI, found passed out in car on road, sgt investigated for not arresting him http://is.gd/i9EAu

Civil Rights Abuse
Atlanta GA settles suit for unspecified sum to patrons of gay bar detained during raid, promises unspecified reforms http://is.gd/iam88

2 Lucas Co OH deputies found guilty of rights violations & falsified documents in detainee’s death after sleeper hold http://is.gd/iaegI

Rape
Davie FL cop convicted of sexual battery for drugging & raping family member, but conviction may be overturned http://is.gd/i9Dmg

Fraud
Cairo NY cop who also works at jail is arrested on workers compensation fraud charges http://is.gd/i9eKo

Kansas City MO police accused of raiding home, throwing flash-bang past 2yr-old’s head, in search for man in jail http://is.gd/iaS9S

Cleveland OH settles suit for $110k to family of teen killed in “justified shooting” http://is.gd/iaLHF

Woonsocket RI cop sentenced to 1yr +1day after pleading guilty to beating teen at police station http://is.gd/i9fjw

Nogales AZ cop takes plea deal to 3 of 11 sexual conduct w/minor charges involving 16yr-old girl http://is.gd/i9KdL

Riverside CA cop sentenced to 1yr on 3 felony lewd acts on a child charges for repeatedly molesting teen relative http://is.gd/iafMP

El Paso TX cop fired & subject of criminal probe for alleged relationship w/15yr-old female student http://is.gd/i9VW0

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.