Fairfax County Police Watch: 03/26/12

This week’s candidates for the Brian Sonnenberg Peaceful Resolution to Conflict Center Award. Fairfax County Police. police brutality

Charleston SC cop arrested on domestic violence charges after allegedly assaulting unspecified woman at his home [1] http://bit.ly/GPu7AX

Austin TX cop arrested on assault w/bodily injury & interfering w/emergency call charges in alleged DV incident [0] http://bit.ly/H2165n

Fairfax County Police Officer David Ziants award for kill somebody and the worst thing that happens to you is you get fired.

3 New York NY police detectives involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell were forced to resign after the detective who fired the shots that sparked the 50+ shot barrage was forced out as well. [0] http://bit.ly/H1vf4e

This Week’s Capt. Denise Hopson Screw it, it’s the public s money and not mine Award

Ottawa ON entered into a confidential settlement deal for an unspecified sum that is over $100k with a man who was jumped from behind and injured by cops while trying to help his wife up after her chair broke during a neighborhood campfire in his yard. [4] http://bit.ly/GROa1x

The Fairfax County Police Officer Jeffrey Hand Award for Creative Income Production. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality

San Jose CA police audit reveals lax enforcement of off-duty work assignments led to abuses by cops gaming system [0] http://bit.ly/GOP3FR

Fairfield NJ cop charged w/official misconduct & hindering for protecting Hells Angels members after bar fight [0] http://bit.ly/H3251G

The Fairfax County Police officer Walter R. Fasci/ Sean McGlone award for sober living. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

Castle Rock WA police cheif fined $250 for appearing in political ad opposing liquor sales privatization [0] http://bit.ly/GOurk2

New York NY cop arrested on drunk driving charge in unspecified incident, police refuse to release info [3] http://bit.ly/H2itSv

Conecuh Co AL sheriff allegedly got his friend’s son out of a DUI charge after taking him out of a state trooper’s custody during the arrest then never filing charges against him. [3] http://bit.ly/H2jpGt

The officer Christian Chamberlain Award for “Fuck you, I’ll get away with it anyway” Fairfax County police . Police brutality

2 Niles MI cops are accused of using excessive force on a man who was distraught when paramedics wouldn’t let him ride with them while they took his mother to the hospital following a seizure. One of the officers allegedly tasered him 3x and then the other officer hit 5x in head with his flashlight because he accidentally hit the officer while falling while incapacitated by the taser. Witnesses backed his story and were outraged by the incident. [3] http://bit.ly/H4XFr9

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.