Fairfax County Police Watch: Attorney arrested at Criterion sues city

By Vivian Wang

An immigration attorney who was arrested two years ago for bringing a firearm into the Criterion Cinemas movie theater has filed a lawsuit against the City of New Haven and Police Chief Dean Esserman, alleging false arrest and police misconduct.

Sung-Ho Hwang, who practices law in the Elm City, was charged with breach of peace and interfering with officers in August 2012 after he brought a gun to a showing of the “Dark Knight Rises.” The gun was licensed, and all charges were eventually dropped in December 2012. Hwang, claiming that his reputation suffered in the wake of the incident, is charging the city with false arrest, arguing that the city held him in custody without probable cause, and instituted malicious prosecution.

“This case is not about Second Amendment rights,” said Steven Errante, Hwang’s attorney. “This case is about vindicating Mr. Hwang’s reputation because he was arrested with no justification whatsoever.”

In August 2012, around 20 officers responded to reports that a man had brought an unconcealed weapon into the theater. This incident came less than a month after the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, when a gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of the same film, killing 12 people. Errante said that Hwang understands the fear that must have accompanied the sight of an armed man in the theater, and also does not blame the subsequent police investigation. However, he said that Hwang’s suit takes issue with the way the case was handled after the police established Hwang’s weapon was licensed.

According to Errante, rather than apologize for the mistake, Esserman ordered Hwang arrested to “save face,” rather than apologize for the mistake.

“They arrested him for publicity reasons,” Errante said. “All sorts of police cars were there — a SWAT team and TV news crews had shown up. It became a big deal, and my supposition is the police chief didn’t want to walk out and say ‘False alarm; everybody go home.’”

Esserman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Hwang’s arrest made headlines across the city. The lawyer’s reputation suffered a severe blow as a result, according to John Williams, a New Haven lawyer who specializes in police misconduct cases.

Hwang’s strong public presence across the city, Williams said, only made the damage to his reputation worse.

“He was a highly respected attorney in the community and had just been elected to be president of the New Haven County Bar Association,” Williams said. “According to conversation among a lot of lawyers in town, he was a likely candidate for a judicial position in the near future. Now he may still be, but there can’t be any doubt that an arrest like that would’ve had a terrible impact on his professional career.”

Williams said that one of the major challenges in the case will be providing evidence for a damaged reputation, considering that damage to reputation is often intangible and difficult to quantify in monetary terms. Such cases are especially challenging when they are brought against the police, he added.

“The average citizen or juror believes the police can do no wrong,” Williams said. “But, as a former New Haven police chief once said, police departments recruit from the human race.”

Nevertheless, neither Errante nor Williams said they did not think that New Haven had more police misconduct cases than any other city. Hwang’s arrest was more likely a one-time incident rather than part of a larger trend of false arrests, Errante said, adding that the arrest was likely made as a product of the fear that followed the Colorado shooting.

When asked for comment, the City of New Haven communications office said that it is “extremely limited” in what it can say about pending litigation.

“The City is aware of this matter and will respond accordingly at the appropriate time,” said New Haven Deputy Corporation Counsel Christopher Neary in an email to the News. “Suffice it to say for now The City believes that the New Haven Police Department acted appropriately under the circumstances.”

The City has until Oct. 2 to respond to the lawsuit, according to the New Haven Register.

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.