Fairfax County Police Watch: Baltimore police brutality settlements worth $113K on agenda

By Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun

9:51 p.m. EST, December 9, 2013

City officials are set to consider $113,000 in payments to settle two lawsuits alleging police brutality, including a case in which a well-known 77-year-old barber's arm was broken during an arrest.

Baltimore's Board of Estimates is scheduled to vote Wednesday on an award of $63,000 to Lenny Clay, the West Baltimore barber at Lenny's House of Naturals whose case sparked protests in 2009. The spending panel also has before it a $50,000 settlement with Anthony Keyes, 42, whom officers shocked with a Taser before arresting him on charges that were later dismissed.

The city's Law Department recommended the settlements because of "conflicting factual and legal concerns" and the "unpredictability of jury verdicts."

James E. Clay, who goes by the name "Lenny," was arrested Dec. 23, 2009, after he struck a parked car and continued driving, the city said. Clay, who was 73 at the time, did not hear the officers directing him to pull over and eventually stopped his vehicle near Leeds Street and Palormo Avenue, city lawyers said.

The officers, Sgt. Robert Brown and Lt. Sean Mahoney, removed Clay from the car. During the arrest, Clay suffered a broken arm, according to city documents.

Clay filed a $26 million lawsuit against the officers, alleging battery, excessive force and gross negligence. Clay, whose regular barbershop clients have included Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and former Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, repeatedly denied the officers' allegations that he resisted arrest and appeared intoxicated.

Schmoke once referred to Clay as the "Mayor of Poppleton." Friends said the barber spent countless nights on the streets trying to talk kids out of selling drugs, raised money for Pop Warner football league uniforms, and gave money to send talented students to private schools.

The Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, who was among those protesting Clay's arrest, on Monday called the incident "shameful."

"It was egregious, violent behavior," he said. "It really outraged the community. It's a shame the city has to foot the bill for police violence."

Clay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

City Solicitor George Nilson said he was initially reluctant to settle the Clay case. But he said it would have been difficult to show that Clay had damaged another vehicle or was intoxicated.

"Those things were a little soft in the proof," he said.

Nilson added that he believed the officers involved did not intend to hurt Clay, but that he did incur significant medical expenses.

"He's an older gentleman and he was unquestionably injured," Nilson said.

The other case proposed for settlement involves the Feb. 3, 2011, arrest of Keyes, who said he was visiting a friend to sell a car when officers conducting a raid accused him of attempting to purchase drugs. He was taken down, shocked with a Taser and injured, according to the city. Keyes filed a $375,000 lawsuit, which would be dismissed if the city approves the settlement.

Baltimore typically spends about $3.5 million a year defending the Police Department against lawsuits. About 65 percent of the cases against police allege excessive force, officials said.

Currently, the Police Department is $3.9 million over budget for the year, according to the city's budget office, though the total figure for legal expenses was not available Monday evening.

luke.broadwater@baltsun.com

twitter.com/lukebroadwater

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-police-settlements-20131209,0,5717722.story#ixzz2nSj6jcf6

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.