Fairfax County Police Watch: Springfield police officer charged with misdemeanor in panhandler shooting

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri — A Springfield police officer faces a misdemeanor assault charge after shooting a fleeing panhandler in early May near a grocery store.

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson announced Thursday a charge of third-degree assault against Jason Shuck, 35. Shuck faces up to one year in jail if convicted.

A probable cause statement shows that Springfield resident Eric Butts, 27, was standing outside the store with a cardboard sign saying he had lost his job, had a pregnant wife and was "in need of help." Police were called because Butts had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on a parole violation.

Shuck told investigators he instead meant to shoot Butts with a stun gun, but the probable cause statement notes that the right-handed officer had to reach across his body for the much lighter Taser attached to the left side of his belt. Butts was wounded in the lower back and suffered serious intestinal injuries that require him to use a colostomy bag, the Springfield News-Leader (sgfnow.co/1kIOBwp) reported.

Police Chief Paul Williams that Shuck is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the case. He added that Shuck could keep his job even if convicted, subject to the department's own inquiry.

"The internal investigation is separate from the criminal investigation, and it is in process," he said.

Shuck's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Butts has hired a lawyer to pursue a possible civil lawsuit against the city.

The officer told a Springfield police detective that "the best explanation that I have is that my ... brain was saying Taser ... but my body moved faster than my brain," according to the probable cause statement.

Former Greene County prosecutor Darrell Moore said he can't recall another case in the past three decades where a police officer in the county was criminally charged for an officer-involved shooting.

"I think it sends a good message to the public that law enforcement and prosecutors believe that law enforcement officers should be held to the same standard as civilians when it comes to deadly force — that it should be justified," he said.

Patterson, the current prosecutor, said Shuck was charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony because the investigation pointed toward criminal negligence.

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.