Fairfax County Police Watch: Fairfax Police Admit Mistake in Diplomatic Flap

The Washington Post

January 29, 1994, Saturday, Final Edition

Fairfax Police Admit Mistake in Diplomatic Flap

ByLINE: Tamara Jones, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A6

LENGTH: 442 words

Fairfax County police have admitted making a mistake in the arrest of a South African diplomat and his wife, but blame the pair's "hostility" in part for the events that landed them in jail on charges of public drunkenness. Documents released by the Fairfax Police Department yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition filed by The Washington Post said "appropriate measures" have been taken in the case.The South African Embassy had filed a protest with the State Department demanding to know why the diplomatic immunity of First Secretary Eckard Piprek, 34, and his wife, Gerda, 31, was disregarded when they were arrested Oct. 16 outside their Oakton home. Charges against the couple have since been dropped and the criminal complaint expunged from police files.

The South African Embassy indicated yesterday that it is not satisfied with the police conclusions, and it continued to deny that the Pipreks were drunk at the time of their arrest. "We have to pursue this with the State Department," said embassy spokesman Wesley Johanneson. Police spokeswoman April Kranda said yesterday that the two arresting officers had made a "technical violation" by reporting the detention of the Pipreks to the South African Embassy instead of to the State Department.The violation "is not one which we would consider serious," she said. The department does not discuss disciplinary measures against its officers, and Kranda would not confirm or deny whether any were taken.Police were summoned to the Pipreks' home by neighbors complaining of a loud, drunken party outside. Officers Michael Kulikowsky and Onzy Elam took the Pipreks into custody only after they refused to quiet down and go back inside, according to an internal police investigation of the incident.In a letter to the State Department's protocol office, Police Chief Michael W. Young concluded that it "is evident that Mr. and Mrs. Piprek contributed in large part to the circumstances resulting in their arrest.""Their behavior in the cul-de-sac in front of their home, as well as at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, was not what one would expect from diplomats representing a foreign country," he wrote.The South African Embassy gave a different account, insisting that the Pipreks tried several times before and after their arrests to establish their diplomatic immunity, but were ignored. They were released after spending three hours in jail when an embassy official arrived to identify them.Kranda said the department "would not provide an apology" to the Pipreks or their embassy because it "would not be appropriate" in this case.

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.