Fairfax County Police Watch: Weekly idiots in action report

A Los Angeles CA jury has awarded $1,700,000 to the family of an autistic man after that jury ruled that a idiot cop used excessive force when he shot the man to death. ....well Duh

Five Lufkin TX idiot cops are the subject of a lawsuit alleging they barged into a Hispanic man’s home without cause or warrant while the man was in the bathroom then took the bathroom door off the hinges after tear-gassing him. The suit then alleges that the officers beat him before arresting him on charges that never stuck. All, allegedly, because he didn’t speak English.

A San Francisco CA idiot cop is accused of falsely arresting a street performer on unknown charges when the man asserted his rights by asking if he was being detained and why, questions that were never answered even though he was then taken to jail. He further alleges that the officer used excessive force on him, causing a head injury and that officers at the jail tried to coerce him into signing a waiver saying he wasn’t injured. While the video, taken by the alleged victim, does seem to show a very questionable arrest, it does not appear to show any use of force that can be seen, though you can hear him protest that he’s being hurt.

A Smith Township PA and a Hanover PA idiot cop are the subject of a lawsuit alleging that one of the officers used excessive force when he broke a 64-year-old man’s arm when he reached for a pack of cigarettes on his porch then threw him to the ground. The suit does not mention any charges or the reason why officers confronted the man on his porch so I’m a little concerned about adding this one, but it’s hard to see why officers would have used enough force to break the man’s arm to the point where he required surgery afterward as alleged in the suit.

A Pittsburgh PA idiot cop was issued unspecified disciplinary action after an investigation sustained a conduct unbecoming complaint when video contradicted his arrest report that alleged a woman assaulted a witness at court. The same officer was suspended last year after he was implicated in a wrongful drug arrest but returned to duty when a judge dismissed the case against him.

The Spokane WA ombudsman is questioning how the police chief there decided to exonerate two officers in an excessive force case that was initiated when witnesses to the incident filed the complaint, not the person who was arrested and despite their statements which supported the allegations. The victim apparently didn’t file a complaint because he can’t even remember what happened other than that he was knocked out somehow. The police chief says he doesn’t care what the ombudsman thinks because he doesn’t have the authority to overrule the chief’s decisions on disciplinary matters.

The Aurora CO police department was forced to rehire a idiot cop they fired for excessive force when he broke a woman’s eye socket with a knee strike while she was handcuffed after a civil service commission took his side of the story which was that her face must have hit his knee on accident somehow, though he doesn’t quite know how.

A now-former Louisville KY police detective is now facing yet another accuser as a 6th person has joined a lawsuit against her alleging that she had a pattern of falsely arresting people to boost her numbers and that she perjured herself in court as well as intimidated witnesses in order to make the charges stick.

A Des Moines IA police lieutenant has resigned while he’s the subject of an unspecified investigation by a regional drug task force.

A Springhill NS idiot cop has been charged with theft and obstruction on allegations that he stole marijuana from evidence and other items from the department.

A Dallas TX idiot cop who was in charge of that department’s crime stoppers program has been arrested on federal charges over allegations that she and a friend defrauded that program’s reward program.

The now former sheriff of Yadkin County NC has resigned after he was sentenced to probation in a plea deal on 8 misdemeanor charges for embezzlement.

An Asbury Park NJ idiot cop has been charged with forgery and falsifying records for using forged military orders in an effort to get out of a lease.

The sheriff of Sully County SD was arrested on a drunk driving charge after stopped by a highway patrol trooper.

An Urbana IL idiot cop has retired after being cited for DUI and leaving the scene of an alcohol-related accident without injuries.

A Conyers GA idiot cop was arrested on drunk driving charges with a .105 BAC by a state trooper.

A Fargo ND idiot cop was given a letter of reprimand as discipline for leaving her handgun in sporting good store bathroom.

APasco County FL deputy has been charged with illegal compensation and for introducing contraband on allegations that he would call up the girlfriends of inmates when they were on work details and allow them to visit in exchange for chewing tobacco. I don’t know about this one, seems odd actually so it should be interesting to watch. [0]

Philadelphia PA has settled a wrongful death lawsuit in the middle of the civil trial for $500,000 to the family of woman who was shot by police five times, two of those shots hit her in the back. Her family claimed that was because she was walking away at the time.

King County WA has settled an excessive force lawsuit for $10,000,000 to the family of a man who was left in a permanent comatose state due to catastrophic brain damage he suffered when a deputy launched him head first into a wall with a shoulder tackle in a case of mistaken identity. The family needed the money to pay for the constant care he will need for the rest of his life.

A Houston TX idiot cop already facing sexual assault charges on allegations he handcuffed and kidnapped a waitress at her place of work then raped her on the trunk of his cruiser while on duty has now been named as a suspect in five other sexual assault cases.

At least two New Jersey State troopers are the subject of a lawsuit alleging that they used unnecessary force when they threw a mentally disabled man to the ground then beat and kicked him repeatedly on dashcam video after they asked him to step out of a car he was a passenger in during a DUI traffic stop, after the driver passed all sobriety tests.

Two Toronto ON idiot cops have been found guilty of assaulting a disabled man in an excessive force case where the judge ruled the officers had no grounds to have arrested the man, let alone fracturing his ribs and leaving him with facial lacerations indicative of being struck repeatedly by the officers.

A Humble TX idiot cop’s actions in the accidental shooting death of a car burglary suspect are being questioned by police tactical experts who say it’s against any known training they know of for an officer to use a loaded gun to break a car window, precisely because of the risks of an accidental discharge. The officer is currently under investigation over the incident.

An Ontario County NY sheriff’s lieutenant is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a corrections officer and a deputy alleging that he sexually harassed them then retaliated against them when they complained about their mistreatment and made allegations that he assaulted a detainee.

A Rockaway NJ idiot cop and a Denville NJ police detective are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man claiming the detective assaulted him inside a gym where both of the men got into a dispute and that the responding Rockaway officer falsely arrested him for assault when it was the detective who was the aggressor. The assault charges agaisnt the man were dismissed later.

The Lake County FL Sheriff’s Office and the Tavares FL police department are being sued by the ACLU on behalf of a woman who they claim was illegally jailed for being an undocumented immigrant after she called police to translate for her sister who was a victim of a domestic assault.

A Phoenix AZ idiot cop is under investigation on allegations that he assaulted a man while off-duty. The same officer was the subject of a high-profile incident last year where he was accused, and later cleared, of roughing up a councilman at the scene of a house fire.

A Chattanooga TN idiot cop has been suspended after he was arrested on a domestic simple assault charge on allegations he shoved a woman of unspecified relation to him.

A New Brunswick NJ police sergeant has been charged with theft by deception on allegations he worked on extra jobs while he was also on-duty. [0]

Concord CA has settled a sexual discrimination and harassment lawsuit for $150,000 to a female police lieutenant.

A Hamilton ON idiot cop has resigned after pleading guilty to an obstruction charge over a strange convoluted prank 911 phone call case that even I had a hard time figuring out.

An Akron OH idiot cop was suspended last year for charging a woman with a felony for videotaping him then refusing to give him her camera is now suing his employer claiming that the disciplinary action was nothing more than a racially motivated plot because he’s a white officer, the woman was black, and the black mayor wanted to use the case to get more votes… uh huh.

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.