Fairfax County Police Watch: 04/23/11

Providence RI police detective was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon over a videotaped excessive force incident that caught him kicking and beating a restrained man with a flashlight, as seen in the video above, which resulted in the man suffering a concussion and requiring 8 staples on his head. [0] http://bit.ly/fPKEfa

A Seattle WA police officer is the subject of a lawsuit that has been allowed to move forward to a jury trial. The suit alleges the officer used excessive force on a complaint man by slamming his head into the hood of his police cruiser for being too slow when the officer demanded to see his hands while they were on the hood of the cruiser, as seen in the dashcam video above.[3] http://bit.ly/eJzXTd

An Oklahoma City OK police officer who was arrested last week on kidnapping allegations has now been charged with 35 felonies and 2 misdemeanors on sexual abuse of a child allegations. [0] http://bit.ly/gfAUBv

The Youngstown OH police department is being forced by an arbitrator to rehire a police officer they fired on allegations that he failed to act while a fellow officer dragged a paralyzed man from a car and allegedly hit him. That officer is also appealing being fired as well. [0] http://bit.ly/dOVmfW

A Windemere FL police officer was arrested on allegations he forged a motorist’s name on a ticket as part of an organized scheme to defraud. [0] http://bit.ly/h16crU

Two Dallas TX police officers have been fired. The first was fired when tested positive for marijuana use after a suspected DUI crash while the other officer was fired for allegedly showing up for work while intoxicated, apparently it wasn’t the first time either. [0] http://bit.ly/huLtfH

An Anchorage AK police officer has been arrested on allegations that he’s actually an illegal immigrant from Mexico who used a stolen ID to become a police officer back in 2005. [0] http://bit.ly/dFgbxz

A Waterloo Regional ON police officer has been charged with voyeurism and breach of trust involving an alleged incident where he recorded an unspecified adult victim. [1] http://bit.ly/ff0bmn

A Gainesville FL police sergeant was apparently allowed to work while armed for weeks despite a sexual violence injunction against him which forbid him from possessing a firearm. [0] http://bit.ly/fsDB5f

An Irondequoit NY cop who happens to be the son of a now-former Greece police chief who is in prison has also been sentenced to 1-4yrs prison for computer trespass. [0] http://bit.ly/h21IjP

In Chicago IL, up to 1,000 police officers could face disciplinary action after an investigation into allegedly improper access to arrest records involving officers who are facing sexual assault charges. [0] http://bit.ly/eSedB2

A Leetsdale PA police officer was arrested on obstruction charges on allegations that he lied to police in order to cover for a DUI accident a friend was involved in. [0] http://bit.ly/eIBXwI

Washington DC police are investigating an alleged improper use of police resources after actor Charlie Sheen’s promotor paid for a high-speed police motorcade to take him to one of his stage shows when such escorts are reserved for heads of state. [0] http://wapo.st/hJ65w7

The police chief of Burden KS has resigned as part of a diversionary sentence agreement over a misdemeanor domestic battery charge against him. [0] http://bit.ly/he0uP3

A Mesa AZ police officer is on leave after being charged with residential mortgage fraud along with his wife. [0] http://bit.ly/dYHKAg

And finally, Memphis TN police mistakenly arrested a fellow officer on burglary charges after lifting his fingerprints at a burglary scene… that he had investigated earlier. [0] http://bit.ly/hIYlaQ

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.