Fairfax County Police Watch: Andrea Rebello's family petitions for police files

The family of a Hofstra student accidentally shot and killed in May by a Nassau police officer during an off-campus hostage standoff has asked a judge to order the release of all records related to the case.
The request was filed in Nassau Supreme Court after the family appealed to Nassau police for documents but only received partial records of the May 17 shooting of Andrea Rebello, said David Roth, the family's lawyer.
The county has refused to turn over all but a few records, citing the investigation into the shooting, which also killed Dalton Smith, the Hempstead ex-convict police said took Rebello hostage during a home invasion.
"The NCPD's refusal to provide almost all information requested is unfair and unreasonable," Roth wrote in the Sept. 30 filing in Nassau Supreme Court.
The petition names Police Commissioner Thomas Dale, County Executive Edward Mangano, the police department and the county. It asks a judge to declare the denial of the records "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and erroneous as a matter of law."
Nassau County attorney John Ciampoli said the county would review the petition. "It is puzzling to me why these attorneys are attempting to drag this matter out piecemeal in the courts and have not handled this in a more traditional fashion wherein they bring an action against the county."
In August, the family's lawyers filed papers saying they intended to sue the county for wrongfully causing Rebello's death. No suit has been filed.
Roth said the timing of the lawsuit's filing is irrelevant.
"All we're asking for is what we're entitled to," Roth said.
The family first raised questions about the shooting shortly after police said Smith barged into the Uniondale rental home about a block from campus that Rebello shared with three students, including her twin sister.
Police said Smith demanded money, jewelry and took four students hostage. Responding officers, including Nikolas Budimlic, arrived within minutes of a 911 call. Budimlic confronted Smith as he held Rebello in a headlock, a handgun at her head, police said. Smith pointed the gun at Budimlic, who fired. Smith was hit seven times, and an eighth bullet hit Rebello in the head.
In August, a Nassau judge ruled that the medical examiner must turn over Smith's autopsy report to the family. Lawyers said it was key to get the report to determine how the bullets entered his body, the size and shape of the bullet holes, and other details.
Ciampoli said the family has the report but Roth said it's "incomplete" and is missing numerous files and photographs.
"We've requested that they rethink their position, instead of narrowly construing the judge's order, and turn over the full materials," Roth said.
With Robert Brodsky

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.