Fairfax County Police Watch: Cop with mental health issues commits suicide in FDR Park

A Lower Merion cop suffering from mental health issues committed suicide in his car in FDR Park this morning, according to police and Lower Merion officials.
When Lower Merion Township Ofc. Sean Quinn, 46, did not show up for work as scheduled at 7 a.m. today, Superintendent Michael McGrath issued an alert to all area law enforcement agencies "out of an abundance of caution," according to a news release.
The release did not detail why Quinn's supervisors felt it necessary to notify other police departments that the officer was missing, but a city police spokeswoman said Quinn was believed to suffer from mental health issues.
Lower Merion Township public information officer Thomas Walsh declined to go in to detail regarding Quinn's mental state. He did, however, say the officer was not fired but just failed to show up for work.
Walsh said Quinn left his house after a fight with his wife Sunday night and did not return.
Quinn was last seen around 5:30 a.m. in Ardmore and last had contact with his family around 6:30 a.m. while he was in the Columbus Boulevard area, according to Lower Merion officials.
After Quinn's personal vehicle, a 2012 gray Ford Focus, was found at FDR park this morning, city police set up a perimeter around the park at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia, according to police.
Quinn was found inside the vehicle with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to a news release from Lower Merion Township.
Lower Merion police called Quinn, who also worked as a D.A.R.E officer, "a respected veteran of the force." Walsh said he was the father of three adult children.
"He was just a very well liked and a well-respected officer here," Walsh said. "His fellow officers are trying to absorb this."
According to his LinkedIn profile, Quinn had 25 years experience in law enforcement and was nearing retirement. He was working on building an Internet shopping business, according to his profile.
In a statement, Lower Merion police Superintendent Michael McGrath said: "The Lower Merion Police Department wishes to express its heartfelt condolences to Officer Quinn's family and friends and asks that they be kept in your thoughts and prayers as we all try to come to terms with this tragic event."

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.