Fairfax County Police Watch: Judge Throws Out Fairfax False-Arrest Lawsuit

May 20, 2001 Sunday

Correction Appended

Final Edition

Judge Throws Out Fairfax False-Arrest Lawsuit

BYLINE: Tom Jackman, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: METRO; Pg. C03

LENGTH: 473 words

A federal judge in Alexandria has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a Reston man who was wrongly arrested by Fairfax County police on charges of indecent exposure, saying a detective's actions were "objectively reasonable."

After a man showed a photograph of himself naked to a lifeguard at a Reston health club in July 1999, Fairfax Detective Ricky Savage searched the home of James M. Brocco, 55, then arrested him. Fairfax police then issued a news release and photo of Brocco, and some newspapers printed stories about the arrest.

Brocco, however, hadn't been at the health club on the day of the incident. After the arrest, police said, Savage showed photos of Brocco and another club member, James A. Brokke, to the lifeguard, and he immediately picked Brokke. Court records show that the lifeguard gave Brokke's name and description to police from the start. Prosecutors dismissed the case against Brocco; Brokke later pleaded guilty.

Fairfax Police Chief J. Thomas Manger apologized to Brocco, who nonetheless filed a civil rights suit last October against Savage, the county and Savage's police supervisor. Brocco's attorneys later dropped the county and the supervisor from the suit. Savage's attorney sought the detective's dismissal, saying he was entitled to qualified immunity as a police officer.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. granted the request. Bryan noted that government officials generally are shielded from liability unless their conduct violates "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Bryan noted that the names Brocco and Brokke are similar and that the health club had incorrectly provided Brocco's information to police.

"That the physical descriptions of the perpetrator and Mr. Brocco may have varied is not enough to make the actions of defendant Savage objectively unreasonable," Bryan wrote.

David Fudalah, Savage's attorney, said the detective was relieved by the ruling. Fudalah noted that security reports from the Fitness Club at the Hyatt Regency unambiguously named Brocco, not Brokke, as the suspect. He also noted Brocco refused to meet with Savage before his arrest. Brocco's attorneys said Savage wouldn't tell them why he wanted to meet with Brocco.

"Had he spoken with police, this may well have never occurred," Fudalah said.

Manger said: "Detective Savage based his actions on what he believed was credible information. The problem was the information he was given by several sources was wrong. Once we found out that information was wrong, we worked as quickly as we could to remedy that situation."

Brocco, who paid $ 38,000 in legal fees in his criminal case, declined to comment. His attorney, Victor M. Glasberg, said he and Brocco would meet next week to decide whether to appeal Bryan's ruling.

September 6, 1984, Thursday, Final EditionFairfax Chief Lashes FOP Fund-RaisersBYLINE: By Lee Hockstader, Washington Post Staff WriterFairfax County Police Chief Carroll D. Buracker yesterday accused a Fraternal Order of Police Lodge of "unconscionable" fund-raising tactics, charging it had sent numerous bills and past-due notices to businesses in Northern Virginia for unordered tickets to a variety show. Buracker said that the lodge was incorrectly claiming that proceeds from the show were going to benefit local community activities, including neighborhood watch and home security programs. "Lodge No. 35 did not contribute in any way to these activities in Fairfax County," he said in a statement. Bob Brown, president of Lodge No. 35, refused to comment

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.