Fairfax County Police Watch: 08/25/11

Threatening

Chicago IL police sgt threatens & takes ID from traffic cop who put boot on car of cop who had 62 unpaid tickets [0] bit.ly/pGsAjA

Palmetto FL cop arrested for threatening wife & kids w/rifle & taser had history of 14 disciplinary cases in 11yrs [0] bit.ly/n3sWCV

Murder

Bay City MI settles suit for $1mil to family of 15yr-old who died after tasered. While police claim he was tasered for taking up a “fighting stance”, witnesses claim he was cuffed when he was tasered. [0] bit.ly/q2tsBp

Assault

Colonial Regional Police PA cop charged w/assaulting his estranged wife in custody dispute in front of 9yr-old son [0] bit.ly/qVAMKN

Trenton NJ cop arrested on agg assault & other charges for allegedly pointing gun at girlfriend & threatening her [0] bit.ly/od2Abg

Washington Park IL cop pleads to rights charge for firing at car, illegally jailing 2 men & unrelated fraud charges [0] bit.ly/ob6rRg

Excessive Force

San Francisco CA police in the above video are being accused of using excessive force on female protester at end of protest against BART police [3] bit.ly/qvwjN9

2 Seaside Heights NJ cops accused of arresting 2 men on video, above, and beating one of them after shutting off the cell phone videotaping them. Apparently because one of them was videotaping one of the officers. [0] bit.ly/pBGMLt

Syracuse NY cop gets unspecified discipline but no charges after caught on video, above, slamming a cuffed man into his cruiser [1] bit.ly/nYQY4U

Ottawa ON sued by man alleging cops beat him, stripped him, then tried to crush his testicles against cell bars [3] bit.ly/oQYRD4

Burlington ON & Halton ON cops accused of excessive force by judge dismissing case against man who had arm broken [3] bit.ly/p9zAFP

Los Angeles Co CA sheriff reaches tentative $900k settlement w/family of woman who died after released from jail [0] lat.ms/r5GLpI

Regina SK cop charged w/assault on unspecified allegations that he used excessive force on a man in custody [2] bit.ly/nYqZhf

Gretna LA cop who is already the subject of an excessive force case where a police dog bit off a man’s penis is now being sued by a man claiming the officer tasered him and his 7-year-old son during a traffic stop then beat him afterward. [3] bit.ly/mShOEo

Portsmouth VA cop sued by man claiming he was tasered while handcuffed in drug arrest that was later dismissed [3] bit.ly/pFX4Yk

Civil rights violation

Chicago IL cop in SOS scandal sentenced to probation in plea to false report about warrantless raid caught on video [0] trib.in/nn0iMp

Kids and cops……just ….just…ouy

Corpus Christi TX cop found guilty of indecency with child for groping a 12yr-old girl during an ATV ride [0] bit.ly/nf0wKC

Rockaway Beach OR cop who coached softball team arrested for encouraging child sexual abuse & other charges [0] bit.ly/px1aBb

Madison NJ cop pleads guilty to child pornography charge for asking what he thought was 13yr-old girl for nude pics [0] bit.ly/ob04r2

Boone IA cop subject of state criminal investigation into unspecified allegations after resigning last week [2] bit.ly/nTPX4j

Sexual assault

Harrison Co IN sheriff gets 9mo house arrest in plea deal to groping employees & covering it up w/intimidation [0] bit.ly/orqmh4

New Britain CT police capt faces new allegations of sexual misconduct raised during testimony in suit by other cop [0] cour.at/rm22Cm

Cranford NJ cop suspended w/o pay after arrested for alleged on-duty criminal sexual contact & official misconduct [0] bit.ly/ruApXf

Theft

Moorehead State Univ KY cop indicted on shoplifting charges along with wife accused of stealing from Walmart [0] bit.ly/p29rfJ

Midwest City OK now-retired police major charged for falsely claiming 2.5hrs overtime when GPS showed he was home [0] bit.ly/pKdP3v

Palm Beach Co FL deputy arrested for allegedly smuggling contraband into jail in exchange for stolen debit cards [0] bit.ly/r22ewv

False arrest

Philadelphia PA cop w/history of retaliatory false arrests subject of 3rd suit alleging yet another false arrest [0] http://t.co/O1kij5L

Fraud

Pittsburgh PA cop on paid leave after charged w/insurance fraud and related crimes involving off-duty accident [0] http://bit.ly/nXtlDa

Drunk/Drugs

Craven Co NC deputy sentenced to 60days jail after pleading to charges over fatal on-duty 100mph crash [0] bit.ly/renjWO

Redding CA cop suspended after arrested on suspicion of drunk driving while behind wheel of city-owned vehicle [1] bit.ly/qZrO3L

Tucson AZ cop arrested on drunk driving, agg assault & other charges after rear ending another car while off duty [0] bit.ly/nn7J6z

North Muskegon MI cop who also works for Roosevelt Park MI gets suspended sentence for crashing into home while DUI [0] bit.ly/qGCyyT

Gage Co NE deputy arrested on drunk driving allegations after being pulled over for speeding while off duty [0] bit.ly/q8cGsH

Draper UT K9 cop arrested on drug paraphernalia charge after allegedly caught on video smoking heroin in patrol car [0] bit.ly/nLjBj8

I’m a little surprised there are no reports of cops and animals this week. There is almost always at least one report about cops torturing, maiming or killing some helpless beast.

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.