Fairfax County Police Watch: Jury awards $250,000 to ATF agent over arrest

CAPE GIRARDEAU (SMNS) -- A federal jury Thursday awarded $250,000 to a federal agent who sued a state trooper, alleging false arrest and false imprisonment, the agent's attorney reported Friday.

Ryan Becker of Jackson, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, sued trooper D.W. Crank of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, claiming Crank violated his civil rights by arresting him without probable cause.

On March 6, 2012, Becker was driving on Interstate 55 in New Madrid County when he saw Crank's vehicle parked at the side of the road, said Becker's attorney, Stephen Walsh of Poplar Bluff.

As Becker was driving, a pair of tractor-trailers in front of him tried to move over, presumably to stay out of Crank's way, but one braked quickly in front of Becker, Walsh said.

Crank pulled Becker over, telling him he was following the truck too closely and had almost hit it, Walsh said.

He said Crank then told Becker, "You reek of alcohol."

But Walsh said in court that Crank testified he could not smell alcohol coming from Becker's mouth and that Becker did not appear physically or mentally impaired.

According to the lawsuit, Crank took Becker to his patrol car, where Becker declined to participate in field sobriety tests.

Walsh said an "incredulous" Becker told Crank he had just left work and asked Crank to call his supervisors and then to give him a portable breath test, which Crank refused to do, instead handcuffing Becker and taking him to the New Madrid County Jail.

About 30 minutes later, Becker was given a breath test, which returned a blood alcohol level of zero, the lawsuit stated.

In the suit, Becker alleged Crank arrested him without probable cause, violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

The suit also claimed Crank misused the handcuffs, causing pain to Becker's wrist and shoulder; caused emotional harm and distress; and damaged his professional reputation.

The jury verdict was not immediately available on the federal court website, pacer.gov.

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.