Fairfax County Police Watch: Lawsuit against Walla Walla County, officers claims false arrest

Luke Hegdal
Walla Walla Union Bulletin

WALLA WALLA — A Milton-Freewater man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Walla Walla County and several local law enforcement officers, claiming he was repeatedly tasered by a sheriff’s deputy, arrested without cause and unlawfully transported across state lines.

Darin W. Mercado, 51, claims Walla Walla County Deputy Gerrod Martin, College Place Police Officers Steven Harris and Robert Benfield and Washington State Patrol Trooper Shawn Williams violated his civil rights by transporting him from Oregon to Washington, and used excessive force.

Attempts to contact officials with the Washington State Patrol, College Place Police Department or the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office were not successful as of this morning.

Mercado also claims in his lawsuit that Walla Walla County is liable because the sheriff’s office failed to discipline Martin or provide adequate training.

“The County of Walla Walla, through its elected Sheriff John Turner, has ratified all of the conduct of the Defendant Walla Walla County and its agents by failing to provide any discipline for the abuses, misconduct, and violations of civil and constitutional rights perpetrated by Walla Walla County Sheriff Deputies against Darin Mercado on July 6, 2012,” the lawsuit alleges.

Breean L. Beggs, Mercado’s attorney, said the decision to sue the county follows records requests made to the sheriff’s office.

“We asked for all the records,” Beggs said. “Our belief is based on the evidence (that no discipline occurred).”

Beggs added that Washington State Patrol is exempt from litigation, and his office hasn’t decided whether to name the College Place Police Department in addition to the two College Place police officers.

Mercado is seeking $425,000 in damages in connection with lawsuit, filed on June 26 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

The lawsuit also named two private citizens, Michael A. Ruth and Steven M. Bly-Riggin, claiming they assaulted him before his arrest.

In the lawsuit Mercado claims the two men began following him while he was driving home from Pacific Express in Walla Walla. According to a Sheriff’s Office report, Ruth and Bly-Riggin were following Mercado because he was driving erratically, and they believed he was intoxicated.

The pair contacted dispatch to report Mercado driving erratically, and eventually Mercado pulled over near Martin Airfield in College Place.

Mercado claims one of the men tackled him while the other rummaged around in his car. Ruth and Bly-Riggin reported Mercado was combative and assaulted them.

After a short tussle, Mercado got back into his car, and left the area. A short time later, after turning from Stateline Road onto Burgraff Road in Oregon, Mercado said he noticed a police car behind him and pulled over.

Martin, in his report, claims he had been following Mercado with his patrol vehicle lights on well before Mercado turned onto Burgraff Road.

Martin states in his report that Mercado was belligerent and “actively resisted” arrest, forcing officers to employ a Taser several times.

“Multiple warnings were given to Mercado to stop resisting which were ignored,” Martin wrote in his report.

Mercado, however, claims he did not “act aggressively or combatively toward the officers.”

“Without warning, the officers used a Taser on Mr. Mercado,” the lawsuit asserts. “The officers then pushed Mr. Mercado to the ground face first.”

The lawsuit also claims Mercado asked Martin, Harris and Williams about “the protocol for his arrests,” since no Oregon law enforcement personnel were present.

“After Mr. Mercado made this inquiry, Trooper Williams and Deputy Martin both took an aggressive attitude toward Mr. Mercado, telling Mr. Mercado they didn’t need a protocol and calling Mr. Mercado ’smart ass.’”

Martin then transported Mercado to the Walla Walla County Jail on investigation of driving while intoxicated. The charge was later dismissed.

Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Nagle said Wednesday, “We moved to dismiss the case because we didn’t feel we would be able to prove all the elements beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Nagle added that the federal lawsuit has been turned over to the Washington Counties Risk Pool, and a Spokane law firm will handle the case on behalf of Walla Walla County.

Nagle said the case, which he categorizes as a civil rights/false arrest lawsuit, won’t likely affect the prosecution of other cases in Walla Walla County.

“These things are usually isolated,” Nagle said. “The lawsuit isn’t arguing that this is a common scheme or common practice.”

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.