Fairfax County Police Watch: County faces trial in police brutality lawsuit

dlehman@poststar.com

QUEENSBURY -- A state Supreme Court justice has ruled against Warren County in a woman’s lawsuit that accuses county sheriff’s officers of brutality and false arrest, setting the stage for a trial later this year.

Supreme Court Justice David Krogmann denied a request by the county to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Martha Philion in connection with her arrest on a disorderly conduct charge in October 2009.

Philion, 73, has alleged her right shoulder was “seriously and permanently” injured when sheriff’s officers took her into custody after she cursed them in front of her home.

Sheriff’s officers had gone to Philion’s home on Coolidge Avenue after receiving a call from someone who was concerned about the welfare of her adult son, Thomas “Neil” Beatty.

Officers Scott Rawson and Kurtis Glenn went to the home, but Beatty would not come out.

Beatty was facing felony child sexual abuse and child pornography charges at the time, and had been told by his lawyer not to have contact with police unless they had a warrant, Philion told police.

He came to the door, but when the officers insisted they be allowed to speak to him, Philion became irate and cursed at them, according to court records.

That resulted in her being charged with disorderly conduct, a noncriminal violation. She could have been charged with the weightier misdemeanor of obstructing governmental administration, but police filed the lesser charge instead, county officials claimed in court papers.

The disorderly conduct charge was dismissed 12 days later, and Philion filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified monetary damages in 2011.

The lawsuit alleges Philion was injured when she was “taken down” on her porch. Warren County Sheriff Bud York said he had no comment on the matter because of the pending litigation.

The lawyer appointed by the county’s insurance carrier, Gregg Johnson, had asked Krogmann to throw out the lawsuit. But the judge concluded that Philion had not committed disorderly conduct because there were no members of the public present to witness her alleged actions.

Krogmann also concluded she was “arrested without probable cause,” so the use of force to arrest her was not justified. The ruling sets up a trial in the coming months, barring an appeal or settlement.

Philion’s lawyer, Daniel Stewart, said he had no comment on the case Tuesday.

The case was the subject of an executive session at a recent county Board of Supervisors meeting, with no action taken afterward. County Attorney Martin Auffredou said the lawsuit was still pending as of Tuesday.

“There have been some settlement discussions,” Auffredou said.

Beatty pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a sexual performance by a child and was sentenced in 2010 to 1 to 3 years in state prison. He was paroled in February 2012.

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.