Fairfax County Police Watch: Bar Harbor couple sue Portland police officer for false arrest

David Harry

PORTLAND — A Bar Harbor couple claim they were illegally arrested in the city May 24 after observing and attempting to record police "interaction" with a woman on Fore Street, according to a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Hancock County Superior Court.

Jill A. Walker and Sabatino Scattoloni were illegally arrested by Portland Police Officer Benjamin Noyes Jr., according to the lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Maine on behalf of Walker and Scattoloni.

The suit, which also claims Walker and Scattoloni were not read their Miranda rights when they were arrested, and were subjected to illegal searches, seeks unspecified damages and court costs.

“The right of citizens to observe and record the police is a critical check on the use of power and force,” Zachary Heiden, legal director for the ACLU of Maine, said in a press release. “The police need to understand that individuals who are quietly observing their work from a distance have a right to do so, and it is not cause for their arrest.”

City spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said Tuesday that Police Chief Michael Sauschuck opened an investigation into the arrest in July after Heiden wrote to him with the allegations.

Grondin said Walker and Scattoloni have cooperated with the investigation, and Noyes will be provided an attorney by the city, which is required by the contract with the Police Superior Officers Benevolent Association.

The department will not comment on its investigation of Noyes, a 17-year veteran, because of "confidentiality of personnel matters and the pending civil lawsuit.," Grondin said.

The complaint alleges Walker and Scattoloni were visiting Portland and returning to their hotel around midnight when they saw a traffic stop on Fore Street involving a woman and five police officers.

The couple watched from across the street and eventually crossed the street while staying about 25 feet from the scene, according to the complaint. They also recorded the incident on a cell phone.

"They watched silently, they did not approach or address the officers, and they did not in any way interfere with the officers' work: they simply stood bearing witness," the complaint said.

Walker and Scattoloni were allegedly approached twice by police before Noyes ordered them to leave or face arrest. The couple were then charged with obstructing government administration, a Class D misdemeanor.

The charge, which carries a sentence of no more than 364 days in jail, is made against persons interfering with public servants with "force, violence or intimidation."

Walker and Scattoloni were taken to Cumberland County Jail and posted $60 bail apiece before their release early on May 25.

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.