Fairfax County Police Watch: More and more, bystanders recording NYPD – including arrest of subway musician Andrew Kalleen recently was arrested in a New York subway for performing without a permit, which 'buskers' and their supporters say is not required. They see such incidents as examples of increasing police harassment.

By Harry Bruinius, Staff writer October 23, 2014

New York — More and more, when New York City police make an arrest in public, bystanders pull out their smart phones and begin recording.

In the latest video sparking controversy over the NYPD’s aggressive approach to minor crimes, uniformed and plainclothes cops are shown arresting a guitar-strumming subway “busker” – or public entertainer who solicits donations – after he refused an order last weekend to stop playing and leave the station.

The video, which has been seen by more than 1 million viewers on YouTube, shows Andrew Kalleen, a busker who had been singing Neil Young’s protest anthem “Ohio,” argue with an officer who had told him to pack it up, saying he was not allowed to perform on subway platforms without a permit.

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Mr. Kalleen, however, pulled out a copy of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s rules of conduct and directed him to read Section 1050.6(c). The officer told Kalleen he was not going to argue with him, but, nevertheless, he read the section aloud, which allows for “artistic performances, including the acceptance of donations,” as long as they do not impede transit activities.

Bystanders erupted in cheers, and even jeers, but the officer called for backup, and at least five cops then roughly arrested the fedora-wearing musician. As he was taken away, bystanders continued to hurl expletives at the police. Kalleen was later charged with loitering and released, the NYPD told the Associated Press, adding the department was reviewing the incident.

On Tuesday, Kalleen and a group of about 100 protesters, including musicians and public officials, staged a rally at the same station, protesting what they call increasing police harassment as the NYPD continues to crack down on subway buskers under the leadership of Commissioner William Bratton.

Since beginning his second tenure in New York, Commissioner Bratton has redirected his officers to focus more on low-level crime – a hallmark of his “broken windows” theory, which holds that strict enforcement of penny-ante crimes deters more serious activities. Through mid-October, police have arrested 293 subway buskers this year, up from 101 arrests in all of 2013, NYPD spokeswoman Sophia Mason told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

“This is part of the integrity of New York City,” said City Council Member Robert Cornegy (D), a 7-foot alum of the famous 1984-85 St. John’s University basketball team, during the rally. “People come here from all over with the expectation that they are going to get an authentic New York experience, and this is part of its authenticity.”

As the video continues to go viral this week, the department is reviewing the circumstances of other controversial arrests and stops captured by bystander videos.

Earlier this month, an officer was recorded taking a roll of cash from a man during a pat-down and then pepper-spraying him after he objected and asked for his money back. The man claims it was over $1,000. And in September, another video showed an officer throwing a pregnant woman to the ground while trying to handcuff her hands behind her.

A grand jury is continuing to hear evidence in the case of Eric Garner, who suffocated to death in an apparent illegal chokehold after being arrested for selling cigarettes – an arrest dramatically captured by bystander smart phones and causing a national outcry.

“We're not asking for the laws to be changed here," said Council Member Stephen Levin (D) at the rally. “The existing law is here to protect us. If this is 'broken windows,' I want no part of it.”

Advocates from BuskNY, a group that supports subway performers, said the NYPD needs to better train officers on the rules of conduct on subways, handing out a proposed memo that officers should be aware that “no permit is required to perform in subway stations or on subway platforms" and that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority “allows all performers to accept donations,” the website Gothamist reported.

Kalleen filed a formal complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Wednesday.

“The world watches New York,” he said at the rally. “This is not the message we want to send to the world.”

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.