Fairfax County Police Watch: 01/16/11

Police misconduct December 2010

A Providence RI cop has been sentenced to 3 years behind bars after pleading guilty to three conspiracy charges that were the result of a large drug sting operation that also led to indictments against 3 othercops, two of which have also pled guilty and await sentencing.

A Stockton CA cop has been arrested on a possession of steroids with intent to distribute charges as part of an ongoing investigation.

A Manhattan Beach CA cop has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident after year-long investigation into a hit-and-run accident that involved othercops as well.

Six Plainville CT cops have been disciplined for purchasing alcohol for and allowing an underage woman drink at their party, some of which also lied about it to investigators despite incriminating photos being posted to Facebook.

A Dickinson ND cop’s use of his taser is being questioned after he used it on an innocent man that he detained in a case of mistaken identification.

Cops and Women...we’re not say’n anything, we’re just pointing things out

Three Houston TX cops are under investigation on allegations that they rammed a woman’s head into the door frame of a police cruiser then beat her in a holding cell while she was cuffed after arrested on drunk driving charges.

cops & kids, it just gets creepier by the moment

A Portland OR cop who resigned last year after he was arrested for making nearly 100 sexually harassing phone calls to several girls and women, including a 14-year-old relative, is now being sued by one of his victims. The woman, who was 16 at the time, claims thecop made a series of calls to her after he transported her to a juvenile jail when she was drunk, including one where he told her he raped her while she was drunk, a claim she still doesn’t know is true or not.

cops in court where they belong

An Unspecified number of Los Angeles CA cops are the subject of a lawsuit filed over a high-profile video that came out in May last year. The man who filmed filed the suit alleging that after he filmed a cop trying to stop a cyclist by kicking his wheel thatcops tackled and beat him, then stomped on his camera in an attempt to destroy the video. He then claims they filed several false charges against him to further the cover-up.

Des Moines County IA and Burlington IA have settled a lawsuit for $75,000 to a man claiming he was assaulted by the deputy then wrongfully arrested by thecop at the request of the deputy to cover up for the assault.

Five West Haven CT cops have been named in a lawsuit alleging they wrongfully entered a home without permission or a warrant then used excessive force while making racist comments to Hispanics at a house party. This is the second suit filed against that department claiming racial discrimination against Hispanics within the last year.

Petersburg VA has settled two lawsuits for $779,999 to the families of two teens, one who died and another who was badly injured as the result of a high-speed chase spurred by a shoplifting complaint. The settlement overturns a $2,000,000 judgment against the city that was being contested due to allegations of jury misconduct.

A St Louis MO cop has settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum to a boy who was 15 when thecop allegedly beat and choked him inside a charter school in front of a security guard. Thecop was off-duty but in uniform at the time while he was visiting a teacher he had a relationship with. The school settled suit with the boy for $145,000 in May of last year.

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.