Fairfax County Police Watch: Attorney plans suit over DeLand police shooting, charges coverup

January 30, 2012 12:55 AM

LONGWOOD -- An attorney representing two men shot by a DeLand police officer plans to file a federal lawsuit accusing the department of unjustly unleashing a barrage of bullets and then engaging in a coverup.

Scott M. Miller, who practices law in Longwood, called the department's actions during the Jan. 22 shooting "a clear case of police brutality, excessive force and just poor decision making" that is among the worst cases he has seen in his 20-year law career.

"We don't live in a society of militance," Miller said during a press conference Sunday. "The officers are supposed to be there to serve and protect -- not engage in the sort of behavior where it is shoot first, ask questions later."

Miller's announcement came a week after Officer Bobby Harrelson shot Javier Perez, 37, and Leobigildo Espinoza, 36, both of DeLand. The DeLand Police Department, Police Chief William Ridgway and Harrelson will be listed as defendants in the suit, which will accuse officers of violating Perez and Espinoza's civil rights, Miller said.

Lt. Jack Waples, a spokesman for the DeLand Police Department, referred questions to Deputy Chief Randel Henderson, who did not immediately return email and phone messages Sunday. In a previous interview, Ridgway defended the shooting, saying it appeared to be a justified use of deadly force based on what he had seen so far.

Miller and police are giving different accounts of the shooting.

Authorities showed up to Perez's backyard near the 100 block of Carroll Avenue after receiving a 9-1-1 call. The caller told authorities three men hired by her parents to kill her were pointing a shotgun at her trailer, according to a recording of the call released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

DeLand police say officers hid behind a privacy fence and identified themselves in English and Spanish. At that point, Espinoza grabbed what appeared to police to be a rifle, hid behind a stove in the backyard and pointed the gun at Harrelson, according to the department's account. The weapon was later determined to be a BB gun.

Harrelson opened fire, hitting Espinoza three times, according to the Police Department's account. Perez picked up the BB gun after Espinoza was hit, aimed it at officers and was shot in the right arm, according to police reports. Another man, Arnulfo Mendoza, who was in the yard at the time of the shooting, was detained and later released.

How many shots were fired is unclear. Police said Harrelson fired at least six shots with an AR-15 rifle. Neighbors said they heard more than 10 shots.

Neighbor Joshua Lindner said a bullet struck his dog, and shrapnel also grazed his 2-month-old daughter's foot. DeLand police said the child's injury might not be related to the shooting.

Miller said an investigation conducted by his law firm revealed a different set of events than those described by police. One of the witnesses his firm spoke with was Mendoza, who Miller said is friends with the men who were shot. Other witnesses have not been identified.

Miller said Espinoza and Perez had been shooting at oranges with a BB gun earlier in the day and were "simply sitting in some chairs" when the shooting occurred. Contrary to police statements, the men never grabbed the BB gun, which was 20 feet away on the stove, he said.

Neighbors also said they heard gunshots before police identified themselves, Miller said.

Three days after the shooting, Perez and Espinoza were charged with aggravated assault on an officer. Espinoza remains hospitalized at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Miller said. Perez is being held on $30,000 bail.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also flagged Perez as possibly being in the country illegally, according to court records.

Harrelson has been placed on administrative leave with pay. An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is ongoing.

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.