Fairfax County Police Watch: Man files lawsuit against Lower Merion for false arrest

By Richard Ilgenfritz

A lawsuit was recently filed against Lower Merion Township and two police officers for alleged civil rights violations in connection with the man’s arrest and allegations that police officers violated his civil rights by taking his car.

According to the complaint that was filed as part of a federal lawsuit last week, Lower Merion police officers confiscated a car belonging to the plaintiff, Gene Linkmeyer. The complaint also alleges that Linkmeyer “was assaulted by police and then subsequently, falsely arrested, falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted by the Lower Merion Township police department.”

“Plaintiff’s arrest, imprisonment and prosecution was without probable cause, for crimes which he did not commit, by the officers of the Lower Merion Township police department, including, but perhaps not limited to the individual Defendants named herein,” the suit claims.

When contacted, Lower Merion officials declined to comment on the case. Jeffrey Lessin, the attorney for Linkmeyer, when contacted, said he would have to speak with his client or ask his client if he wanted to be interviewed. Neither followed up with Main Line Media News.

Court records state that Linkmeyer is asking for monetary relief for alleged violation for the fourth and 14th amendments.

The points made in the complaint date back to Nov. 10, 2012 when Linkmeyer says police took his 1999 Toyota Camry and gave it to Linkmeyer’s wife. The suit contends that Linkmeyer and his wife, Marlene, were going through divorce proceedings at the time and that he had allowed his wife to use the car. A judge, Kathryn Wall, ordered her to maintain the insurance on the car, the suit claims.

Linkmeyer’s suit says that he took his car back Nov. 10 of 2012 when he learned that car had been ticketed in numerous jurisdictions for various violations and for her allowing the registration to expire.

Linkmeyer said in the suit that as the registered owner of the car the tickets subjected him to arrest if not paid.

He also said he informed his wife and her lawyer that he was taking the car back if she could not show proof of registration, payment of the tickets and the proof of insurance. Once he took the car back, his wife then reported the car stolen to police.

When police went to Linkmeyer’s home, he said police checked the DMV report on who was the owner of the car. The report came back that Linkmeyer was the owner.

Linkmeyer said police then told him, “Well, we are taking your car.”

The car was then taken to Marlene Linkmeyer, court records state.

Linkmeyer said an officer placed his hand on Linkmeyer’s chest and forcefully shoved him. The lawsuit then says that on Dec. 4 and again Dec. 5, Linkmeyer was arrested for violating a Protection From Abuse (PFA) against his wife. However, Linkmeyer says the PFA against him did not prohibit him from having any direct contact with his wife.

“Plaintiff Gene M. Linkmeyer also lived in constant fear of additional use of excessive force on him by defendants, and additional false arrest, including, but not limited to false arrest for alleged violation of his conditions of pre-trial bail,” the suit contends.

Jailed for 13 years, man sues for wrongful arrest, imprisonment

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.