Fairfax County Police Watch: 12/29/11

Yet another video out of Seattle WA shows 4 cops, 2 of whom were already under investigation over another incident at the time, dragging a man out of his car and apparently kicking him in the crotch during a traffic stop for speeding because he called 911 on the cops because he was worried they weren't cops because they started swearing at him and provoking him right from the beginning of the stop. Police allegedly found marijuana in the trunk afterward but that evidence was thrown out because it was ruled an illegal search. The officers weren't disciplined for excessive force or for not turning on their microphones as demanded per policy, but were given a talking to about their abusive language, apparently caught on the 911 call. [3] bit.ly/srZx0q

Connecticut state police accused of excessive force in a fruitless drug raid that left a 54yr-old man injured and his apartment in shambles. Radley Balko breaks down the incident and coverage at the link. [4] bit.ly/tZHoNU

North Chicago IL police face more brutality complaints in two separate incidents. One man claims a police dog broke his leg and police refused to stop it until they kicked him in the head because he ran from them. Another person claims police repeatedly tasered him while he was prone on the ground and mocked him when he asked why they were doing it. [3] bit.ly/sxT9ib

Sedgwick Co CO deputy who was implicated in 2 brutality cases has resigned while under investigation for allegedly beating a 63-year-old handicapped man during a traffic stop. This came shortly after the sheriff narrowly avoided a recall effort by residents upset with an apparent increase in bullying behavior from officers. [0] bit.ly/rVE4uq

RCMP Mountie was docked 10 days pay after convicted in two different excessive force cases involving the abuse of detainees in jail, including one who was handcuffed. He was sentenced to probation for those charges. [0] bit.ly/uz49Pu

Kansas City KS cop is on leave after being charged with aggravated assault for shooting an occupied vehicle near his home while off duty in an unspecified incident. The officer was arrested earlier this year but not charged following an FBI investigation and filed a lawsuit complaining of excessive force in that arrest. [1] bit.ly/viyqRY

Los Angeles Co CA sheriff says he's formed a task force to investigate claims in an LA Times investigative report that his department wrongfully jailed people at least 1,480 times in the last five years. [0] http://lat.ms/ur957M

Quartzite AZ police lost an appeal over the arrest and conviction of a man for apparently doing nothing more than pointing at them and saying things they didn't like at a council meeting in that town where the police chief declared martial law because of negative news articles covering his alleged abuses of citizens there. [4] bit.ly/vpKRZ4

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.