Fairfax County Police Watch: Penns Grove officer sentenced to probation for 2012 battery of fellow officer

A borough police officer charged with battery of another officer in Florida last year was sentenced to one year probation earlier this month.
Ptl. Allen Kenneth Moore Jr., 43, pleaded no contest to simple battery, a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida, according to a Polk County, Fla., court official.
Moore was charged in November 2012 after an alleged altercation with another Penns Grove police officer in a Winter Haven, Fla., hotel room. Moore allegedly beat the other officer in the face with a lamp, according to police.
The victim of the attack was identified by police as Penns Grove Police Sgt. Patrick Riley.
According to authorities, Riley was in Polk County to testify at a court hearing on a juvenile matter — a trip reportedly paid by the state of Florida — and, on Nov.13, he met up with Moore who was in Florida for a vacation.
Police said the two went to a local bar where Moore allegedly became “extremely intoxicated,” and the two returned to the hotel where Riley was staying.
At the hotel, Riley reportedly told Moore that he was in no shape to drive, and that Moore could stay until morning. An altercation occurred and Moore allegedly attacked Riley, hitting him numerous times with a “lamp that weighed just shy of seven pounds,” police said.
When police arrived at the scene, they said they found Riley on a bench outside, bleeding from numerous injuries to his head. He was taken to Winter Haven Hospital for treatment and was later released, authorities said.

Polk County Court officials said that Moore pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of simple battery, a first-degree misdemeanor, earlier this month. He was sentenced to 12 months' probation to be served in New Jersey, officials said.
Moore was suspended without pay from the police department earlier this year and the suspension is still in effect, borough solicitor Adam Telsey said. Moore was paid $81,808 per year prior to his suspension, according to state employment records.
Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan said that his office conducted an internal affairs review following the sentencing, and the completed review has been sent to Penns Grove. Telsey said Moore’s status with the department is currently under review but could not provide further comment.

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.