Fairfax County Police Watch: Idiots at work

Westerly RI police accused of excessive force a man officers hit with a baton & peppersprayed died 16 hours after arrested for disorderly conduct. [3] http://ow.ly/1vpX7X

Norway SC police refuse to disclose information about why an officer fatally shot a minister to death after an alleged chase that only lasted a couple of minutes. [3] http://ow.ly/1vpk3R

Toronto ON cops are under investigation after a mute man who was well-liked by neighbors died when he was thrown to the ground and cuffed for unknown reasons. [4] http://ow.ly/1vpe1X

New York NY police are being sued by a man who survived anywhere from 15 to 27 gunshot wounds when several officers unleashed a volley of gunfire that left 1 dead & 6 injured while he was struggling with a man who pulled a gun. [3] http://ow.ly/1vpAcM

Toronto ON police are the subject of an SIU investigation but neither agency will say why undercover cops attempted to stop a car, why the driver was shot in the arm, or what he was charged with along with his passenger after the incident. [4] http://ow.ly/1vsoUg

Fort Dodge IA cop arrested on sexual abuse & extortion charges after accused of sexually assaulting woman in April [1] http://ow.ly/1vpfrB

Henrico County VA deputy was arrested on possession & production of child porn charges after his home raided back in May [1] http://ow.ly/1vpeR7

Juneau AK cop gets deal dropping sexual abuse of a minor charges in exchange for a plea to an interference charge [0] http://ow.ly/1vqmfe

New York NY cops owe $1,000,000 in unpaid tickets according to a report on parking placard abuses, cops blame finance dept [0] http://ow.ly/1vpsxs

Indianapolis IN police car was videotaped by a motorist doing over 100mph on a highway without it’s lights or sirens on [0] http://ow.ly/1vsnOA

New York NY police sgt suspended 30days w/o pay after arrested on DUI charge when stopped for running red light [0] http://ow.ly/1vrR4J

Winooski VT cop charged w/drunk driving after found slumped over steering wheel in highway median while off duty [0] http://ow.ly/1vpktD

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.