Fairfax County Police Watch: Police brutality case: Charges dropped against Syracuse man left bloodied during arrest

By Douglass Dowty

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man who claims police brutality had all charges against him dropped today by the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office.

Alonzo Grant, 53, complains that Syracuse police left him bloodied after arresting him on false charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and harassment in a June 28 confrontation at his 105 Hudson St. residence.

After reviewing the case, the DA's office concluded that Grant had done nothing wrong.

"Witnesses at the scene, both related and unrelated to Mr. Grant, did not report any conduct by him that could reasonably be considered resisting arrest," prosecutors said in a news release. The law did not support the disorderly conduct charge, either.

"It appears that Mr. Grant has an unblemished record and is well-established in the community," the DA's office continued. "Based upon all of the foregoing factors, this office has moved to dismiss these charges in the interest of justice."

Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler declined Wednesday to discuss the decision by the DA's office to drop the charges against Grant.

"That's not something that's appropriate for me to comment on," he said.

Fowler confirmed that an internal police department investigation into the matter is underway, but would not provide specifics.

One of Grant's lawyers, Jesse Ryder, said the DA's office vindicated his client's version of what happened.

"Our client is innocent. He was innocent from day one. We're happy the DA's office has recognized that," Ryder said, stressing Grant's spotless criminal record.

Grant has filed a complaint against officers with the city's Citizen Review Board and plans to file a federal lawsuit, said another attorney, Charles Bonner, of San Francisco.

"I want to applaud Chief Assistant DA Alison Fineberg and DA Fitzpatrick," Bonner said. "They felt the injustice in this case and they wanted to be on the right side of justice. And they did the right thing. I think this is going to have a unifying effect on the Syracuse community."

The confrontation started after Grant called for police help one Saturday evening to report an argument between his daughter and a neighbor in the front yard. By the time officers arrived, the dispute was over.

Instead, police charged Grant with acting aggressively around his wife and other officers. The DA's office described what happened:

"It was Mr. Grant who made the call to police in an attempt to prevent the verbal dispute from escalating further. He was not suspected as the perpetrator of any crime. When an officer entered the residence to assess the situation he eventually asked Mr. Grant to exit his home and speak to SPD Officer Paul Montalto. As he was walking out the door, Mr. Grant punched his screen door, causing the door to slam against the side of his house. Almost immediately following Mr. Grant's action, the police decided to arrest for him Disorderly Conduct.

SPD Officer Damon Lockett reached for Mr. Grant and both parties went over the side of railing and fell to the ground. At this point, Officers Lockett and Montalto struck Mr. Grant about the face and head several times. Mr. Grant suffered injuries which required medical attention.

Those findings came after Fitzpatrick assigned Fineberg and two investigators to review the case. They interviewed six witnesses and three police officers, and read all related police reports, affidavits and partial video of the incident, the release stated. Fineberg declined to comment beyond what was stated in the news release.

The prosecutors' version of events is starkly different from what the two responding officers claimed happened.

An account from Officer Montalto described it this way: "The defendant violently punched the front door of the house causing it to fly open,in the presence of police officers, and continued to annoy and alarm all parties involved with his violent, tumultuous, threatening behavior."

The police then accused Grant of grabbing an officer around the waist and attempting to tackle him.

Grant "refused to comply with several commands to place his hands behind his back so that he could be placed into handcuffs. In order to effect this authorized arrest the defendant's hand (sic) were physically led behind his back," Montalto wrote.

Grant was due in City Court today to face the charges. But instead, Fineberg publicly announced the DA's office intention to drop the charges.

Grant is a 30-year employee of St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center who works seven days a week and has been married for the past 28 years.

His case is one of two recent accusations of police brutality that led to a review of the city's use of force policy by Common Councilors.

Bonner, his lawyer, said this case will be a beacon for those victimized by "rogue officers."

A federal lawsuit will be filed Thursday accusing Syracuse police of false arrest, falsified police reports and conspiracy to deprive Grant of his federal and state Constitutional rights, the lawyer said.

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.