Fairfax County Police Watch: 01/22/11

• The top story today is that the infamous Chicago Illinois “torture cop”, Jon Burge, has been sentenced to a light four and a half years in prison after he was convicted on perjury charges for lying about torturing several people into false confessions in his testimony for a civil suit. [0]

• 12 Philadelphia PA cops are accused of using excessive force in addition to uttering racist and homophobic slurs against a gay couple and then conspiring to cover it up when neighbors started videotaping it. [4]

• Minneapolis MN police are accused of using excessive force and causing extensive damage to an apartment during a questionable raid that only resulted in minor charges. [4]

• 2 Atlanta GA police officers are under investigation for allegedly intimidating a woman who videotaped excessive force incident by pulling her over for no apparent reason after they spotted her recording an arrest. [4]

• A St Louis MO police officer was sentenced to probation for perjury and obstruction over false statements he made that would have sent an innocent man to prison for 10 years if not for contradictory video. [0]

• Garden Grove CA police are the subject of a claim, generally a precursor to a lawsuit, alleging that masked officers clad in black raided a home without showing a warrant just to make a misdemeanor drug arrest. [3]

• A Minneapolis MN police officer has been charged with felony assault on allegations that he beat his wife then pistol whipped her in front of their 3-year-old son then threatened to kill her after she sought medical treatment. [0]

• A Clovis NM police officer has been indicted on a vehicular homicide charge on allegations he caused a fatal accident when he ran a stop sign while speeding in cruiser and crashed into a woman’s car, killing the passenger and severely wounding her passenger. [0]

• Tarpon Springs FL police are accused of arresting a college student for refusing to turn over a video he took of officers while they were making an arrest and then confiscating another person’s cell phone for recording that arrest. [5]

• A New Bedford MA police sergeant was arrested on a gross lewdness charge on allegations that he exposed himself to a woman at a bar owned by his parents. [0]

• A Long Branch NJ police officer was sentenced to probation in a plea deal to a simple assault charge for his role in a bar brawl that left a man with a broken jaw in a situation the judge called nothing less than bullying. [0]

• A Los Angeles CA police officer is the subject of a lawsuit alleging he threatened to kill a 14-year-old student that his wife, a teacher, had sex with. [3]

• Two Washington DC police officers have been indicted on illegal suplementation of pay charges for taking protection money from liquor store, another officer was convicted of the same last year. [0]

• A Jacksonville FL police officer was detained after an outburst against an instructor at a training center while the officer was on administrative leave while under investigation over other misconduct allegations. While police claim it was for his own safety, they also warned a judge and attorney he had issues with, as a precaution. [0]

• A Michigan State trooper was sentenced to 1 week in jail in a plea to an assault & battery charge for groping a female trooper’s breasts during training. [0]

• A Lorain OH police officer with a history of disciplinary problems was suspended twice in the last 2 months for misuse of his position and for making false claims against one of his supervisors. [0]

• An Oregon County MO deputy has been fired after arrested on 8 felony burglary & theft charges when he tried to sell stolen goods to an undercover officer. [0]

• A Grand Traverse County MI deputy accepted a plea deal to an attempted assault on an officer charge even though he was originally charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and two domestic violence charges. [0]

• A Kingston NY police lieutenant was charged with grand larceny involving $9,000 that was stolen, however, how he stole it depends on whom you ask since officials aren’t being clear about whether it was due to double-dipping or that he directly stole it from the department. [2]

• The police chief of Howey-in-the-hills FL is under investigation after accused of voter fraud and he may face felony charges. [0]

• A Marathon County WI deputy was suspended for 4 days without pay after he was cited for drunk driving back in December. [0]

• An Arlington TX police officer is accused of threatening members of a SWAT team… who arrested him on an aggravated sexual assault charge where he is accused of choking and sexually assaulting a woman… which occurred while he was on unpaid leave on allegations he arrested an innocent man… which happened while he was under investigation for allegedly making sexual advances on a woman he pulled over in October… in fact, all in all, the officer in question has a history of 21 complaints filed against him. [2]

• Warwick RI has settled an excessive force and false arrest lawsuit for $40,000 on allegations that police detained a 71-year-old grandmother and telling her to shut up when she asked why, ordered her grandson to put his 7-year-old son down at gunpoint, punched him in the head while he was cuffed in front of the young boy, then illegally searched their apartment before realizing… they had the wrong address. [3]

• Los Angeles CA was ordered to pay a $1,200,000 jury award to a bounty hunter who was shot by a police officer who thought he was robbing the fugitive that he was apprehending. [0]

• A Chouteau County MT reserve deputy has been sentenced to 4 years in prison in a plea deal for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. [0]

• The now-former police chief of Inman KS has been found guilty of 15 felony charges for molesting and solicting 3 young girls for sex and a misdemeanor charge for abusing a young boy he was also accused of molesting as well, though he was found not guilty of those charges. [0]

• An Oklahoma City OK police sergeant has been suspended after he was arrested on allegations of committing lewd acts on a child under 16 and forcible sodomy. [0]

• A Houston TX police officer has been indicted on aggravated sexual assault charges involving two different on-duty incidents. [1]

• The police chief of Norfolk VA is claiming that he failed to reveal that a police recruit police claim died because he accidentally ran into another recruit during training more likely had died after he was repeatedly punched by a police trainer because the city attorney advised him not to reveal that information… but a reporter found out anyway. [2]

• A Hardeman County TX deputy was fired and charged with sexual assault of a child and possession of a controlled substance. He was actually fired in September due, in part, to those allegations but he was then rehired by the Bayou Vista PD while under investigation. [0]

• The RCMP police officer out of Kelowna BC who may be facing charges over the videotaped incident where he kicked a compliant suspect in the face is also under investigation on a complaint filed before that alleging he repeatedly punched a man he detained when he mistook him for a thief when he caught the man repossessing a boat due to unpaid repair bills. [3]

• A Baltimore MD police officer who claimed that someone shot him in the leg at a parking garage next door to the police station may have been lying after investigators apparently determined that there was no sign of an assailant in that incident. [3]

• Prince George’s County MD lost a civil suit judgment for almost $3.1 million to a woman who was severely injured after an unmarked cruiser drifted into her lane and struck her car head-on. [0]

• Sturgis SD has settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum to a woman claiming she was subjected to illegal body searches by police during an annual Sturgis motorcycle rally. [3]

• An Austin TX police officer has been suspended after he chose to take a lunch break instead of responding to a call requesting that someone check on a woman’s husband after she claimed he had a gun and she was worried about him. The man was later found dead of a self-inflicted gun wound. [0]

• Two Denver CO police officers are accused of mistreating and issuing a false citation to a byciclist who is an intern at the Westword weekly in Denver. The intern alleges an officer shoulder-tackled him when he road away after confronting a cop who had almost caused a car to hit him while directing traffic. Instead, the bicyclist got a $50 ticked for failing to obey traffic laws. [3]

• A York Regional ON cop is under investigation after being videotaped telling a G20 protester that he wasn’t in Canada anymore and had no rights when the man refused to allow his backpack to be searched. [3]

• A Tucson AZ police officer has been sentenced to probation in a plea deal on computer tampering charges stemming from the misuse of a police database. [0]

• A Kern County CA deputy was sentenced to 1 year in jail but will be allowed to transfer out into a drug treatment program in 30 days as part of his plea deal for being under the influence of meth while armed. [0]

• A Harvey IL police officer was suspended without pay after his son stole his unmarked police SUV and seriously injured someone in a multi-car crash. [0]

• An Elkhart IN cop faces termination after he was convicted on a felony forgery charge for forging his wife’s signature on a check he cashed. [0]

• A Stuttgart AR cop was sentenced to probation, a fine and community service in a plea deal to abuse of public trust and abuse of office charges. [1]

• A Modesto CA police officer was charged with driving under the influence after he was stopped last month by a CHP trooper. [2]

• A Sandwich MA cop was suspended after he was caught on a gas station surveillance camera hitting a light pole with his car and then fleeing the scene of that accident.
• A Dougherty County GA school police officer has resigned after being arrested on multiple charges including theft on allegations he tried to pass off a used cell phone as being new while trying to return it for a refund.

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.