Fairfax County Police Watch: Worcester cop accused of home invasion, assault in Northborough

By Norman Miller

NORTHBOROUGH – A Worcester cop forced his way into his ex-wife’s home last month and beat a man there, threatening to kill him, authorities said.

William Stout, 44, posted $500 bail after he turned himself in to the Northborough Police on Wednesday at 10 p.m.

According to a police report filed in Westborough District Court on Thursday, the veteran Worcester Police officer went to his ex-wife’s Shady Lane home on June 17 and began banging on the door, yelling to be let in while yelling profanities.

The report said his ex-wife would not let him in, so Stout forced a kitchen window screen open and climbed through.

"According to (the ex-wife) her ex-husband was in his full Worcester Police Department uniform at the time he forced his way into her house and he did have his gun, which was holstered in his belt/waist area," the report said.

Stout then went to a bedroom, where he attacked his ex-wife’s "companion" by "grabbing him by the neck and punching him several times, striking him in the face and neck area," the report said.

Throughout the attack, Stout yelled "I will kill you," repeatedly. When the assault was over, Stout told the man he would "murder" him if the man was ever around Stout’s family again, the report said.

Northborough Police obtained a warrant for Stout’s arrest and he turned himself in.

Stout, of 33 Brookhaven Road, Worcester, was charged with home invasion, assault and battery, breaking and entering, trespassing and threatening to commit a crime.

After his arrest, Stout posted bail and was released. He pleaded not guilty at his Westborough District Court arraignment on Thursday and is due back in court on July 24 for a pretrial conference. As a condition of his release, Stout is not allowed to carry or possess a firearm.

Stout, who has been with the Worcester Police Department for 16 years, is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal police investigation, Worcester Police spokesman Sgt. Kerry F. Hazelhurst said.

"The department’s internal investigation was initiated immediate

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.