Fairfax County Police Watch: Today's police brutality reports

A Providence Police Department internal investigation is underway following an incident early Sunday morning that left a local man with injuries that he claims were caused by a police officer. Eric Rodriquez, 27, showed Target 12 2 black eyes and several scrapes and bruises on his face and body. He says a police officer stopped him while he was walking on Potters Avenue near Harriet Street, just before 1 in the morning on Sunday. "I still don't know why they stopped me. And I didn't deserve this," Rodriguez says, referring to his injuries. "At one point, my eyes were swollen shut, worse than they are now. He hit me repeatedly in the face, and then moved my face to the other side and hit me repeatedly on that side"

Indianapolis settles Brandon Johnson's police brutality lawsuit for $150,000

It has been three years since Indianapolis teen Brandon Johnson was beaten by police officers as he challenged the arrest of his brother. At the time, then-Police Chief Paul Ciesielski called it one of the worst cases of excessive force he had seen in 23 years. Then-Public Safety Director Frank Straub issued a public apology. His mother settled a federal lawsuit against the city of Indianapolis for $150,000.

Two Marion SC Police officers were fired Friday after they were charged this week following an investigation by State Law Enforcement Division. Sgt. Eric Walters and Frankie Brown were booked Thursday at the Marion County Detention Center on charges of assault and battery, first degree and misconduct in office. The case stems from an incident April 2 when a woman was hit with a Taser multiple times, the arrest warrant says.

Wheeling, West Virginia: A former sheriff will spend a year in federal prison for his role in the beating of a robbery suspect. He will also serve 18 months’ probation and pay his victim $1,850. ow.ly/kZ6u0 The Cato Institutes National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 05-11-13 to 05-13-13 http://www.policemisconduct.net/national-police-misconduct-newsfeed-daily-recap-05-11-13-05-13-13/

Strasburg, Virginia: A police officer lost his job over accusations that he used excessive force against a suspect in a drug case, falsified records and violated safety rules without a threat to life. Said the chief in a letter to the officer, “Although you deny the allegations, the evidence in this case is overwhelmingly against you in all three allegations.” ow.ly/kZ2LL The Cato Institutes National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 05-11-13 to 05-13-13 http://www.policemisconduct.net/national-police-misconduct-newsfeed-daily-recap-05-11-13-05-13-13/

Leland police officer in wrongful arrest claim resigns

A Leland Police officer resigned last week, days after the town received a letter from a man saying he was wrongfully arrested by the officer.The letter was sent to the town by Katherine Parker of Tin Fulton Walker and Owen law firm, who represents Darryl Langley. Langley also contends that Smith allowed the removal of $10,000 worth of work equipment stolen from his house in June 2011. Smith and former Officer Andrew Correll responded to a call to assist Langley's former girlfriend Aimee Coleman in retrieving items from Langley's house. Correll resigned from the police force in Nov. 2012 after being cited for affray in a street fight outside of a Wilmington bar.

Meriden Police Brutality Case Going to Trial

After failing to have police brutality charges against him dismissed, Meriden police officer Evan Cossette is going to trial. Cossette, indicted by the federal government last year, is accused of shoving a prison whose hands were cuffed while being held inside a holding cell at the Meriden Police Department in 2010. The victim received a head injury as a result. Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, was indicted by a grand jury that issued two counts, including a charge that Evan Cossette lied on official police reports about the incident. Under the indictment, Cossette is charged with one count of use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officerand one count of obstruction of a federal investigation by preparing a false report, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

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.