Fairfax County Police Watch: Fairfax County Police Officer Larry A. Jackson award for false arrest. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

MOBILE, Alabama -- Fairhope’s insurance carrier agreed last week to pay $50,000 to settle a police brutality lawsuit filed by an 85-year-old man who claimed an officer assaulted him in 2009.

Andy Rutens, an attorney hired by Alabama Municipal Insurance Corp., said part of the settlement will reimburse Medicare and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for treatment that plaintiff Dorsey Henderson received after the incident.

Rutens said Fairhope officials did not admit wrongdoing and, in fact, believe Officer Trent Scott acted appropriately. He noted that Henderson withdrew his claim against the officer earlier this year.

"An internal affairs investigation found no wrongdoing," he said. "Officer Scott used proper techniques and immediately provided proper care as soon as (Henderson) hurt his arm and shoulder."

Keith Landers, an attorney for Henderson, said his client is very elderly.

"In the end," he said, "I think the integrity and respect he wanted was restored."

The lawsuit contended that Scott told Henderson that there was "no such thing as a citizen’s arrest in Alabama," and said, "Get out of the way, old man," after Henderson subdued a driver who had attempted to run away from a wreck across from Henderson’s home on Thompson Hall Road in May 2009.

Henderson’s wife, Dorris Henderson, watched from her wheelchair on her front porch as Scott wrenched her husband’s right arm, slammed him face-first into their gravel driveway, then struck his head, back and neck, the lawsuit said.

It also contended that Scott waived off an ambulance as Henderson sat handcuffed with a broken nose following the altercation. A superior officer called for the ambulance to return, and paramedics took Henderson to the hospital.

City officials maintained that Dorsey Henderson, a retired Army intelligence officer and veteran of 3 wars, failed to obey a lawful command by the officer.

2514-Fairhope,Alabama settles police brutality lawsuit for an easy $50,000

Fairhope, Alabama could consider itself one of the luckiest cities in America this week after a potential multi-million dollar lawsuit netted the plantiff a mere $50,000. In 2009 following a car wreck in which the driver attempted to flee, 85 year old Dorey Henderson placed a citizen's arrest on the driver. Henderson saw the wreck, across the street from his house. Police officer Trent Scott arrived and informed Mr. Henderson there was no such thing as citizen's arrest in Alabama "old man." Actually, there is, if you believe a felony has been committed - in all states except North Carolina. Then, as Mr. Henderson's wife, in wheelchair, watched, police officer Trent Scott, in plain English, roughed up an 85 year old man. The city of Fairhope settled the lawsuit with the understanding of no admittance of guilt. We nominate The city government of Fairhope, Alabama as one of the luckiest 10 small cities in America along with a blue ribbon for all the old geezers in the city.

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.