Fairfax County Police Watch: Idiots at work

Mt Vernon NY appeals $315k brutality judgment to cop against cop facing 2nd brutality suit involving 12yr-old [3] http://bit.ly/mrBNnM

Williamsburg County SC deputy fired & arrested for beating detainee on video while he was being booked into jail [1] http://bit.ly/kfUCtd

Refugio Co TX sheriff & 2 deputies sued by 2 women claiming they were strip searched at roadside traffic stop [3] http://bit.ly/lwXDCw

Plattville CO cop charged w/assault of at-risk adult for shoving 60yr-old who asked him to turn off car at gas pump [0] http://bit.ly/kQtFXk

Leon Valley TX cop resigns while under investigation for allegedly firing shots in neighborhood while drunk [0] http://bit.ly/jmCp8X

Helotes TX cop suspended 1wk for failing to detain cop accused of firing rounds in neighborhood while drunk [0] http://bit.ly/jmCp8X

Nassau Co NY cop arrested on multiple charges on allegations he forced woman to touch him sexually at traffic stop [0] http://bit.ly/iQpzm8

Honolulu HI cop convicted of 2nd degree sexual assault for forcing a prostitute to have sex under threat of arrest [0] http://bit.ly/ir04g7

Alorton IL police chief sentenced to 6mo home detention & probation after pleading to filing fraudulent tax returns [0] http://bit.ly/k77xhN

Fort Collins CO deputy suspended after arrested on multiple charges including domestic violence & drunk driving [0] http://bit.ly/kpIIHM

Pender Co NC sheriff’s capt suspended after arrested on solicting prostitution & crimes against nature charges [1] http://bit.ly/kkezPO

Palm Beach Co FL sheriff’s lt charged w/official misconduct for fixing a public official’s daughter’s tickets [0] http://bit.ly/lgUIRD

South Carolina state trooper fired after US DHS executes search warrant on his home in unspecified investigation [1] http://bit.ly/j2ZMI4

US FBI, Pennsylvania state & Bellevue PA cops sued by family of 11 subjected to pre-dawn wrong door raid [0] http://bit.ly/kQeerN

Nashville TN cop indicted on charges including money laundering in alleged cocaine distribution conspiracy [0] http://bit.ly/jagh3p

Durham regional ON police officer arrested on drug possession & trafficking charges after internal investigation [1] http://bit.ly/jpvxWc

Oxnard CA cop arrested for workers comp fraud after allegedly caught playing basketball while too disabled to work [0] http://bit.ly/kDlnWF

2 Mission TX cops under investigation after caught on video crossing into Mexico while chasing suspected car theif [0] http://bit.ly/ms4lzy

Pennington County SD deputy pleads guilty to 6 counts possession, manufacture & distrubution of child pornography [0] http://bit.ly/jy9Rt3

Phoenix AZ police sniper allegedly shoots wrong woman in face during stand off when female suspect ran into her home. While I was suspicious when I read the early accounts on this one, I’m questioning it more now that additional information is being released, it may get dropped from the database. [3] http://bit.ly/mABpyY

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.