Fairfax County Police Watch: Collingdale family sues borough, cops over arrests

By Alex Rose, Delaware County Daily Times

A Collingdale couple and their adult daughter are suing the borough and several of its police officers in federal court for alleged civil rights violations stemming from a Feb. 22 confrontation at their home that ended in arrests for disorderly conduct.

The suit claims Officer Carl White aggressively confronted plaintiff Michael Gaymon, 35, then entered the couple’s home without a warrant or permission and arrested 38-year-old Kia Gaymon for videotaping him with her cellphone.

Police Chief Robert W. Adams referred comments to borough Solicitor Sam Auslander, who said he was aware of the filing but had not reviewed it or spoken with any defendants, so he could not comment.

Michael and Kia Gaymon filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Tuesday along with their 21-year-old daughter, Sanshuray Purnell, who was also arrested.

The suit claims Michael Gaymon’s mother, a guest at their home, had parked her car on the curb of a neighbor’s property. White and fellow Officer William Eckert, apparently responding to a call from the neighbor, arrived at the couple’s home as Purnell and her parents were leaving for a family outing.

White allegedly began yelling in an accusatory manner, asking which of them had spit at the neighbor. After denying any wrongdoing, White approached Michael Gaymon aggressively and yelled at him just inches from his face, according to the complaint.

Kia Gaymon began to tape the confrontation with her cellphone, according to the suit. When White noticed her recording the incident from the top outside step of her home, he allegedly approached her and she went inside, but continued to video from within a storm door. White informed her that she was violating Pennsylvania’s wiretap statute and ordered her to stop recording, according to the suit.

Purnell and Michael Gaymon allegedly told White that Kia Gaymon was within her rights to videotape the interaction, but the complaint claims the officer warned the woman that he would enter her home, confiscate her phone and place her under arrest if she did not stop.

When Kia Gaymon told the officer he did not have permission to enter her home, White allegedly walked up the steps to the front door and placed Purnell in handcuffs, threatening her with a Taser.

The complaint claims Eckert escorted Purnell from the steps as White entered the home and pushed Kia Gaymon against a wall while holding a Taser against her chest, over protests from the plaintiffs that he did not have permission to be in their home.

Eckert and other unidentified Collingdale officers then allegedly handcuffed Kia Gaymon and placed her under arrest. Both women were transported to the Collingdale police station and were later released after being cited for disorderly conduct, according to the complaint.

The suit and court records indicate those charges were dismissed at the district court level in May.

The Gaymons and Purnell now claim that the arrests and prosecution of the disorderly conduct charges were unwarranted and came in retaliation for Kia Gaymon exercising her constitutionally protected right to videotape law enforcement in the course of their duties. The suit additionally alleges Collingdale Borough failed to properly train officers on various aspects of the law.

The complaint alleges claims for unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, retaliatory arrest, unlawful search, municipal liability and state law claims, and demands a jury trial.

The plaintiffs claim to have suffered physical and psychological harm, pain and suffering, and financial losses, for which they are seeking actual and punitive damages, along with legal fees.

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.