Fairfax County Police Watch: 08/20/11

Timmy Hall's Funeral Procession Interrupted By Fairfax County Police

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WUSA) -- Fifty-three-year-old Timmy Hall was being laid to rest Thursday when the hundreds of mourners in his funeral procession were pulled over by Fairfax County police. Timmy Hall lost his life in a motorcycle crash a week ago.
Not only did police pull over the entire funeral procession, according to numerous witnesses, they threatened to use a taser on the dead man's brother.
What began as a funeral procession along the Fairfax County Parkway to honor 53-year-old Timmy Hall spiraled into a confrontation between Fairfax County Police and the bikers who were mourning his death.
"They showed him no respect. I don't think any family during this time should have to go through what we went through yesterday," said sister Teena Hunter.
With lights and sirens, the family says police pulled over the hearse and the rest of the procession, threatening to arrest some mourners.
Sister Bonnie Boyer told 9NEWS NOW, "They worked very hard to give Timmy a send-off showing their love. And to have this happen is an insult."
Timmy's brother, Rusty, admits he was exasperated and was blunt with police.
"I looked at one officer. I said, 'Thank you for pissing on my brother's funeral.' And then another officer pulled up. I said to him, 'Thank you for pissing on my brother's funeral.' He goes, 'Have you got a problem?' I said, 'I'm upset, this is wrong,'" said Rusty Hall.
Rusty Hall says he turned to walk away.
"My two nephews came up from behind and said 'stop, stop, don't do it!' And I looked back over my shoulder and the officer pulled a taser," said Hall. "Was getting ready to tase me, as I was walking away."
Many of the mourners believe they were singled out because they were riding motorcycles. Fairfax County Police dispute that.
"If there were 250 cars at that funeral, there would have been no problem whatsoever. There was 250 motorcycles. Most blatant abuse of profiling and power play I ever saw in my life. I couldn't believe it when I was watching it," stated Joe Long, a friend.
"My father deserved better than that. He was a great man to a lot of people. And to have this happen to him on this day of all days, it's just unexcusable," said Michael Hall, Timmy Hall's son.
Fairfax County Police now say they are investigating this incident. Timmy Hall's family and friends want a public apology.
A Fairfax County Police spokeswoman calls the incident a "misunderstanding" that began when the funeral procession left earlier than anticipated. That, she said, led it to being pulled over because the police escorts did not have time to get in position.

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.