Fairfax County Police Watch: Bradenton police deputy chief suspended with pay amid investigation of allegations

By AMARIS CASTILLO

BRADENTON -- The Bradenton Police Department's No. 2 officer was suspended Monday amid criminal allegations and is now at the center of an investigation by Manatee County Sheriff's Office internal affairs investigators.

Deputy Chief Warren Merriman III was placed on administrative leave with pay Monday, Police Chief Michael Radzilowski confirmed.

"Legally, all I can do is acknowledge that there is an investigation," Radzilowski said Monday. "There were some allegations made and I thought it was best to make sure that it was a fair and impartial review of the allegations. The sheriff's office is taking a look to see if there's any validity to the allegations."

Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Bristow was unable to provide many details on Monday. He said he could only confirm that the sheriff's office was asked by the Bradenton Police Department to conduct an investigation.

As for the allegations surrounding his department's second-highest ranking officer, Radzilowski said he was "caught off guard."

"I was surprised by the allegations because the deputy chief, for me, has done an outstanding job as the deputy chief," he said. "I'm reserving any judgement until the sheriff's office gets done with its investigation."

Radzilowski emphasized that he wants an unbiased look to be fair to both Merriman and the city of Bradenton.

Merriman, who is a U.S. Navy veteran, has worked for the Bradenton Police Department since 1997. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, holds an associate of applied science degree from the State College of Florida and a bachelor of arts degree from Saint Leo University.

According to the Leadership Manatee Alumni Association's website, Merriman serves on its 2014-2015 Board of Directors. In his biography, he's described as having a "reputation of being a problem-solver by working with citizens, local non-profits, and business owners to make the city of Bradenton a safer place to live, work, and visit."

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. You can follow her on Twitter@AmarisCastillo.

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.