Fairfax County Police Watch: Police brutality charges brought by the father of a 16-year-old Fairfax County youth who witnesses said was beaten while being arrested

The Washington Post

March 30, 1978, Thursday, Final Edition

Va. Policeman Is Cleared of Beating Youth;

Brutality Charges Dropped Against Policeman in Fairfax

BYLINE: By Blaine Harden, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION: Metro; C1

LENGTH: 676 words

Police brutality charges brought by the father of a 16-year-old Fairfax County youth who witnesses said was beaten while being arrested at a Franconia roller rink in January were dismissed yesterday by Fairfax County Police Chief Col. Richard A. King.

King said he accepted the decision of a police trial board, which found that Officer Keith M. Florence did not use "excessive physical force" in the Jan. 6 arrest of Howard L. Cadle of 6707 Wakefield Dr. at the Franconia Roller Rink.

Florence is one of three county policemen from the Franconia district station who arrested Cadle on a Juvenile Court warrant for violating probation. Witnesses to the arrest, which took place in the back room of the rink, said they saw policeman hit Cadle, who was wearing roller skates, repeatedly on the head and shoulders with their billy clubs.

King said yesterday that "in the process of arresting Cadle, the officers resorted to force, which required that Cadle be given medical treatment." The youth was treated at Mount Vernon Hospital after the arrest for scalp cuts and multiple bruises on the shoulders and back.

Brutality charges against the other two arresting officers, Robert T. Hubbard and James F. Kelly Jr., were dismissed without a trial board hearing because of insufficient evidence, King said.

King did not release a police version of why Calde was injured during the arrest, and he refused comment on how the decision was made to drop charges against the officers. King said all findings of the police department's internal affairs section are not public information. He asked that the public "have a little faith" in the integrity of his police force.

Lacy Cadle, the father who filed the brutality charges, said yesterday he was "totally surprised" at the police findings. He said he was planning further action in the matter that will be "independent of what the police do." Cadle's attorney, Thomas H. Dameron, called yesterday's decision "extremely unfortunate."

In his announcement yesterday, King said he was breaking a precedent for the county police by publicizing internal affairs action. He said the announcement was made to "assure the public that we do an in-depth investigation."

Three of the five other major police departments in the Washington area make public the findings of police trial boards, which usually are three or four persons panels made up of police officers or citizens. Arlington, Prince George's County and the District of Columbia release trial board findings, police spokesmen said yesterday.

In Alexandria, trial board information is not released, and in Montgomery County releas is up to the chief of police.

King said yesterday he opposes the release of all trial board findings because of his feeling that internal affairs information "in general" should be kept secret.

King was asked about other recent allegations of police brutality stemming from a melee at a Rte. 1 night club on March 18. Several patrons of the One South Restaurant Night Club have filed brutality complaints, claiming that police went on a rampage in the club, striking and arresting patrons who were doing nothing illegal. King said he could not comment on the matter because it was under investigation.

"It is a sign of the times," King said, that complaints about brutality are made "that may or may not have foundation." He said also the police department screens its employes carefully, "We don't have any sadist on the department," he said.

The trial board that found Florence did not use excessive force arresting Cadle was made up of a police captain, two lieutenants and two officers of Florence's own rank.

Because of a new law passed this year by the Virginia legislature, the so-called "policeman's bill of rights," the make up of trial boards after July 1 will be changed. The police department will choose one member, the defendant will choose another and the third member will be chosen by the first two.

The law applies to all police departments in the state with 10 or more members.

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.