Fairfax County Police Watch: Former Haines City Officer, Charged With Excessive Force, Says He Was Trying to Help Peers

By Jason Geary

THE LEDGER

BARTOW | A former Haines City police officer told jurors Wednesday that he was trying to help fellow officers when he attempted to kick a suspect being handcuffed.

Juan Caamano, 30, took the witness stand in his trial on charges of using excessive force. He faces one count of misdemeanor attempted battery.

Prosecutors could question Caamano this morning.

During Wednesday's opening statements, Assistant State Attorney Kyle McNeal described Caamano's actions as "pure, unjustified violence" and an unnecessary use of force against a defenseless suspect.

But Lawrence Collins, one of Caamano's lawyers, told jurors that his client's actions were reasonable, and officers are allowed to use physical force in the exercise of their duties.

On a large screen television, jurors watched video footage taken from a patrol vehicle's dashboard camera showing the actions of Caamano and other officers in the arrest of Mathew Manigault.

The footage was shown numerous times in the courtroom as witnesses were asked to explain details of what was happening.

Manigault, 66, was one of three people arrested on the night of Oct. 22, 2010, when a street party on Pearl Street in Lake Hamilton became too large and rowdy.

Lake Hamilton police officers requested help from the Haines City Police Department and the Polk County Sheriff's Office, reports state.

Officers testified the crowd became hostile when ordered to leave, and some people began throwing bottles and rocks toward officers and their patrol vehicles.

Officers testified that Manigault was taken into custody when he refused to leave the area.

Manigault was taken to the ground by a leg sweep from one officer, according to courtroom testimony.

Witnesses testified that officers trying to handcuff Manigault used knee strikes and a stun gun to get him to comply with commands to put his hands behind his back.

Caamano testified he came over to help the officers trying to take Manigault into custody.

Caamano said he attempted to kick Manigault's leg with the intention of hurting him so he would put his hands behind his back.

He said he missed with his kick and decided not to attempt another kick because he heard one officer yell that a stun gun was going to be used on Manigault.

Manigault was arrested on charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting officers without violence, but the State Attorney's Office later declined to prosecute him, records show.

Caamano was fired April 7, 2011, following an internal investigation that concluded he violated city policies. The State Attorney's Office then filed criminal charges against him.

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.