Fairfax County Police Watch: Father Accused of Abuse Wins $ 55,000 in Suit Against Fairfax Police

The Washington Post

August 27, 1987, Thursday, Final Edition

Father Accused of Abuse Wins $ 55,000 in Suit Against Fairfax Police

BYLINE: Mary Jordan, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECtION: METRO; PAGE C1

LENGTH: 526 words

A federal jury yesterday found that a Fairfax police investigator violated a Falls Church man's civil rights when he arrested him for allegedly sexually abusing and illicitly photographing his two children, charges that were later dropped. The jury awarded William J. Kelly Jr., a Falls Church photographer, $ 55,000 in damages. Kelly was imprisoned for seven days last year after being arrested on rape and indecent liberties allegations.

"They are probably the most vicious accusations made against any father anywhere," Kelly's attorney, George L. Freeman Jr. told the U.S. District Court jury in Alexandria. Kelly "was in jail for seven days . . . . He just couldn't believe what was happening to him." After the prosecutor dropped all charges against him, Kelly sued William H. Whilden and the Fairfax County Police Department for allegedly "coercing" his children into making statements that he sexually abused them. The 45-year-old photographer contended that when Whilden asked the children if they ever "fooled around" with their father, they said "no."Only after Whilden warned the children that they might be sent to a juvenile detention home if they didn't tell the truth, did they change their story, Freeman argued.Kelly's 10-year-old daughter backed up her father's account in court.The girl testified at the opening of the three-day trial that she initially told Whilden that her father had not indecently touched her or photographed her.But she continued: "Then he [Whilden] said if you don't tell the truth, you'll go to juvenile jail . . . so I told him yes . . . . I thought if he heard what he wanted to hear everything would be all right."Both the girl and her 12-year-old brother also testified that it was they, and not their father, who took the four nude photographs that launched Whilden's investigation.The children, who live with their mother and stepfather in Florida, said they snapped nude photographs of each other and then inadvertently gave the roll of film to their father to have developed.A Colorfax laboratory technician in Silver Spring, who was developing the film for Kelly, saw the nude photographs on the roll and called police.Assistant Fairfax County Attorney Robert M. Ross defended Whilden, a 14-year member of the police department who is assigned to the child services unit, saying he did a "professional job."Whilden's attorneys argued that the photographs were not of the type that children snapped of each other. They denied that Whilden overstepped the bounds of his authority and coerced the children into giving him the story "he wanted to hear."Kelly's lawsuit also charged that Whilden and the Fairfax County Police Department had maliciously prosecuted and maliciously imprisoned him, charges that the jury found were not substantiated.Kelly, who was arrested June 13, 1986, was initially held without bond.Seven days later, when the bond was set at $ 20,000, he was released from Fairfax County Detention Center. He had sought $ 5 million in damages."I had hoped that the verdict would have been for a larger amount," Freeman said. "But we're satisfied."

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.