Fairfax County Police Watch: drunk and drugged up cops

State police arrest SFPD cop

Officer Joseph Baca has been charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon for shooting a gun while drunk.

According to a probable cause statement filed by New Mexico State Police, last Saturday a little after 11 p.m. a patrol officer was called out to State Road 512, in an area several miles south of Chama, to investigate reports of shots being fired.

When he got there, the officer says he heard more shots and went into the woods to investigate. About 20 to 30 minutes later the officer spotted Baca and his wife, SFPD Sgt. Andrea Dobyns.

According to a probable cause statement, the two told the officer the same story, claiming they had been drinking but hadn't heard any gunfire recently and hadn't fired any weapons. The couple had magazines with ammunition and three guns with them including a Glock .40 caliber handgun, the same type SFPD issues to its officers.

Investigators say they found a number of shell casings with ammunition that matched the caliber of the weapons Baca and Dobyns had with them as well as a soda can with several bullet holes in it on the ground.

Stillwater officer waives drug-charge hearing

STILLWATER, Okla. -- A Stillwater police officer has waived a preliminary hearing on a drug charge. Sgt. Tom McConaghy is charged with larceny of a controlled dangerous substance. He has a district court appearance set for Sept. 13. McConaghy is charged with taking prescription painkillers from the police department's prescription drug disposal vault.

Miami-Dade Officer Suspended For Alleged Drunk Driving Accident

A Miami-Dade Police officer has been suspended as being investigated for allegedly driving drunk and fleeing the scene of an accident. Larry Laverde was off-duty on August 11th driving northbound on Southwest 127 Avenue in a marked police cruiser, when he ran a flashing red light. While crossing the intersection, Laverde reportedly hit a Mazda driving eastbound on Miller Drive. “This is something crazy, completely 100 percent irresponsible,” said Fernando Monch, the driver of the Mazda. “Could have killed me, I’m supposed to be protected by police not police do that to me then disappear.”According to the arrest affidavit, Laverde fled the scene of the accident and drove home.

Ludlow police officer charged with stealing cocaine from evidence locker

LUDLOW, Massachusetts — A high-ranking Ludlow police officer has been charged with stealing drugs from the department's evidence locker. Lt. Thomas Foye, according to court documents, was captured on video surveillance entering the locked narcotics locker at the police station, where he appears to handle and open evidence bags.

Off-duty cop charged with DWI in wrong-way crashes

MALVERNE, N.Y. (AP) — An off-duty New York Police Department officer is facing drunken driving charges after crashing into other cars while going the wrong way on a Long Island roadway. Ronald Holmes, 48, of Elmont, was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of the Southern State Parkway around 1:45 a.m. Saturday.

Authorities say he hit several cars, sending one person to the hospital. Along with being charged with driving while intoxicated, he also faces reckless endangerment charges.

Cop fired after showing up to work drunk appeals the firing, believe it or not, loses appeal

LAKE CITY - The Utah Court of Appeals today upheld the firing of Stewart Becker, a Sunset police officer who showed up to work drunk.

Becker's attorneys challenged the validity of the portable blood test result that was used to justify the officer's dismissal. But the court ruled that the state law citing a policy of testing urine to establish blood alcohol content does not apply to government enties, so Sunset could use the PBT results.

On April 1, 2007, Becker finished a shift at 6 a.m. and was scheduled to report back for a second shift at 2 p.m. that afternoon. When Becker arrived for work at 2, he discussed the shift change with his supervisor, Sgt. Bruce Arbogast, who noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from Becker. Becker admitted he had consumed approximately five shots of liquor before going to bed at 8 or 9 that morning.

Arbogast requested that Becker blow into a PBT. Becker blew into the PBT, which registered a breath alcohol content of 0.045.

Officer charged with off-duty DUI pleads guilty to lesser charge

A Seattle police officer originally charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence was sentenced Friday to two days in jail, with 362 days suspended, after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving, according to the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.

The officer, Marie Gochnour, and a second officer, Sean Moore, were off duty Dec. 17 when they were arrested after a 911 caller reported a car had hit a pole near First Avenue South and South Lander Street in Sodo.

According to a police statement, Gochnour allegedly stopped the Nissan Altima in the middle of the street and switched places with Moore, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Both officers were found in Gochnour’s car.

Gochnour registered a breath-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.234 percent and 0.247 percent, according to the City Attorney’s Office. Moore’s breath tests measured at 0.161 and 0.149 percent. The state’s legal limit is 0.08 percent.

During BAC testing, Gochnour cursed at the arresting officer, acted in an aggressive manner and gave him the middle finger, according to a police report.

Gochnour and Moore were charged in March with misdemeanor driving under the influence, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

The city would not normally offer a reduced charge for this type of case, according to Kimberly Mills, spokeswoman for the City Attorney’s Office. However, the city had significant proof problems, including not being able to locate the 911 caller for trial.

Moore is scheduled for trial on Sept. 3, Mills said.

A department internal investigation has been on hold while the criminal case was progressing.

Paige Cornwell: 206-464-2517 or pcornwell@seattletimes.comInformation from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

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.