Fairfax County Police Watch: Idiots at work

University of Cincinnati OH police version of fatal taser incident contradicted by witness alleging teen was kneeling in an attempt to follow commands given by police at the time. [3] http://ow.ly/1vtRqQ

20 Hamilton ON cops sued by refugee claiming cops beat him while he was cuffed during wrong-door drug raid [3] http://bit.ly/qU23o5

15 Gloucester Twp NJ cops are accused of excessive force on 2 teen boys who claim they were beaten & hit with batons while arrested. Police maintain they attacked the officers who were called by a store owner claiming the teens threatened him but witnesses and the store owner appear to be contradicting that version of events. [3] http://bit.ly/orBdgp

4 Cleveland OH cops are the subject of a suit filed by a man alleging excessive force was used after a New Years chase that was captured on helicopter video and is still the subject of a federal investigation. [1] http://ow.ly/1vtRLA

US ICE agents are being sued over a series of predawn raids where 1 woman alleges an agent groped her, her sister claims the officer remained in the room when they were allowed to change, and a couple claims the agents lacked a warrant during the raids. [3] http://ow.ly/1vuD57

New York NY cop sentenced to 1yr after jury convicted him of official misconduct in case where he was accused of sexually assaulting a drunk woman while his partner, scheduled for sentencing Wednesday, stood lookout. [0] http://is.gd/wbCOsq

Denver Co CO deputy was sentenced to 24yrs after pleading to child abuse & attempt sexual assault charges involving 8 & 12-year-old boys [0] http://bit.ly/qFKDZj

Another Denver Co CO deputy pleads guilty to a reduced attempted sexual assault on a child charge involving a teen girl [0] http://ow.ly/1vuJQn

Burlington NC cop gets 5mo jail in plea deal to indecent liberties with a minor involving a 14yr-old girl in the police explorer’s program [0] http://ow.ly/1vuqM5

Orleans Parish LA deputy investigated for leaving post while inmate on suicide watch killed self w/toilet paper [0] http://bit.ly/rpFQYM

Romulus MI police dept fires officer who filed a racial discrimination complaint alleging he was referred to as “monkey” that launched a 3 year-long state probe [4] http://bit.ly/q3FlQV

Eudora KS police officer arrested on misd battery charge after woman suffered minor injuries claims he struck her [1] http://bit.ly/nU9Vr7

Hudson Co NJ retired capt now serving as director of narcotics div investigated for possible pension violations [0] http://ow.ly/1vu155

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.