Fairfax County Police Watch: FBI investigating alleged police brutality in Iberia Parish

NEW IBERIA — The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the FBI is investigating alleged brutality by at least one deputy on Hopkins Street in September.
The deputy, who has not been identified by the department, was terminated earlier this month after he was videotaped allegedly hitting a handcuffed man who was sitting on the ground and leaning against a police car. The video, which was promptly posted on YouTube, was filmed as authorities attempted to clear Hopkins Street in New Iberia’s West End on a Saturday night during the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair weekend.
“Sheriff (Louis) Ackal has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate any possible criminal matters involving the incident,” Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Ryan Turner told The Daily Advertiser in an email on Monday.
Two civil suits were filed this month against the department for damages affiliated with the alleged misconduct. The mother of 17-year-old Ladaedrea Moore, who was arrested that night on charges including inciting a riot and resisting arrest, filed a lawsuit on her daughter’s behalf.
The video appears to show the teen being slammed to the ground by another deputy.
The civil suit names the sheriff’s office, Ackal, and deputies Cody Laperouse, Grant August, David Prejean and Trevor Picard.
Another suit filed by Charles and Emma Lewis names the same defendants along with deputy Damien Hebert and Sgt. Zachary Shaubert.
On Monday, the Rev. Raymond Brown, self-described civil rights activist and president of New Orleans group National Action Now held a brief conference at the steps of New Iberia City Hall to address his concern that Mayor Hilda Curry has done little to alleviate tension caused by local law enforcement specifically in the black community.
“She (Curry) is the top administrator of this city,” Brown said. “This is her city, and she should be concerned about her citizens being attacked in the streets where there is crime being committed by civilians or by the police.”
Curry said she agreed to hold a meeting with Brown and New Iberia Councilwoman Peggy Gerac but canceled the meeting after Brown sent a press release.
“He did request a meeting with me, and I agreed to the meeting because it just supposed to be Mrs. Gerac, myself and Mr. Brown,” Curry said Monday evening. “Then next thing I knew, he had put it out as a press release. So I canceled the meeting because that was not my agreement. My agreement was that we would have a meeting just the three of us to discuss whatever he has on his agenda.”

Brown has called for 16th Judicial District Attorney Phil Haney to indict the terminated deputy on criminal charges.

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.