Fairfax County Police Watch: Diplomats' friend says Fairfax police ignored immunity

The Washington Times

November 6, 1993, Saturday, Final Edition

Diplomats' friend says Fairfax police ignored immunity

BYLINE: Maria Koklanaris; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

SECTION: Part A; METROPOLITAN TIMES; Pg. A10

LENGTH: 538 words

An American friend of the South African diplomatic couple arrested by Fairfax County police last month said yesterday that before they were arrested the diplomats informed police that they had diplomatic immunity.John R. Sodergreen, 31, of the 400 block of Warner Street SW in the District, was also arrested in the Oct. 16 incident outside the diplomats' Oakton home in the 2700 block of Sutton Woods Court. Mr. Sodergreen, an American citizen, was there with other guests at a small indoor party, he said.Mr. Sodergreen said the diplomats, 34-year-old Eckhart Piprek and his wife, Gerda, 31, showed two police officers identification cards proclaiming their status. Mr. Sodergreen said he also tried to persuade the officers not to make the arrest.

Instead of listening to him, he said, they arrested him, too. "Eckhart offered his [identification] card up," Mr. Sodergreen said. "He told them, 'I'm a diplomat. You can't do this. I've got immunity.' "Police charged the Pipreks and Mr. Sodergreen with public drunkenness, a misdemeanor, and charges have not been dropped. All three deny the charges.South African Ambassador Harry H. Schwarz formally complained to the State Department this week about the arrests. Mr. Schwarz maintains the charges are false and the arrests violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects diplomats from criminal prosecution in their host countries.The embassy is also outraged that the Pipreks spent nearly four hours in jail, a statement by Mr. Schwarz says.Fred DuVal, deputy chief of protocol at the State Department, said this week his agency will help the Embassy of South Africa in its quest to receive "a good-faith explanation" of the events.Fairfax police yesterday again said they are conducting an internal investigation of the two arresting officers' actions. They will likely be disciplined if the department finds they acted improperly, said Officer Richard Perez, a department spokesman.He could not say when police will conclude the investigation.At issue is when the officers learned the Pipreks had diplomatic immunity. Mr. Piprek is a first secretary at the embassy, and both he and his wife are listed in the State Department's Diplomatic List, a booklet containing the names of foreign officials with immunity from criminal prosecution.Police came to the Piprek home about 11:30 p.m., after neighbors complained about noise at an outdoor party. Mr. Sodergreen said they found Mrs. Piprek outside because she was walking two guests to their car.Police said Mrs. Piprek became "uncooperative" when they told her about the complaints. They said she refused to go back into the house and that she smelled of alcohol.Police said the same of Mr. Piprek, who intervened for his wife, and then of Mr. Sodergreen, who came out to inform police his friends are diplomats.Police arrested all three for public drunkenness and placed them in a police cruiser.Mr. Sodergreen said he joked with Mr. Piprek on the way to jail, telling him, "I thought this only happened in your country.

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.