Fairfax County Police Watch: Trial wraps up for former Pittsburgh police officer charged with homicide

The prosecutor agreed Wednesday that former Pittsburgh police officer Adam Lewis had no intent to harm the passenger on his motorcycle in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, 2010.

But the prosecutor, Lisa Carey, said the man intentionally chose to get on his motorcycle after he had been drinking to drive Jessica Lojak home.

"I think he did act in a reckless and grossly negligent manner," Ms. Carey said. "He chose to speed after he ingested alcohol. He knows there's a dangerous curve coming up."

Mr. Lewis, who has since been fired from the police bureau, is charged with homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence for the crash on Mifflin Road about 2:30 a.m.

Ms. Lojak, 28, of Fawn, was killed.

Mr. Lewis testified Tuesday during his nonjury trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning that as he was traveling through a curve in the road, he felt Ms. Lojak's weight shift, causing him to lose control of the motorcycle.

It traveled into the oncoming lane of traffic and was struck by an SUV.

Investigators testified that Mr. Lewis took the curve at about 41 mph -- in a 25-mph speed zone -- and that his motorcycle was leaning over too far.

Both sides agreed that Mr. Lewis' blood alcohol level at the time was 0.108 -- above the legal limit of 0.08 in Pennsylvania.

William Difenderfer, who represents Mr. Lewis, said his client had three to five beers earlier in the night, and that none of the friends with whom he had been at Rivertowne Pub & Grille in North Huntingdon thought it was unsafe for him to drive.

Mr. Lewis received a call during the night asking him to meet his fiancee and her friends, who were out for her bachelorette party, asking if he would meet them in the South Side so they could follow him back to his house.

Ms. Lojak, who had previous experience riding on motorcycles, asked if she could ride on the back of Mr. Lewis' with him.

"It goes from probably one of the best nights to a tragedy words can't even describe with the death of Jessica Lojak," Mr. Difenderfer said. "There would be no reason for him to have any intention of riding fast or reckless."

There was testimony at trial that Mr. Lewis safely negotiated a number of raised manhole covers along Carson Street, which was being resurfaced at the time.

"Nowhere in the record is there any sign of intoxication of Mr. Lewis," Mr. Difenderfer said.

But Judge Manning responded that based on Mr. Lewis' blood alcohol level, driving would be illegal whether he was doing it safely or not.

Judge Manning said he would announce the verdict on Tuesday.

Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter @PaulaReedWard.
First Published October 3, 2013 12:00 am

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.