Fairfax County Police Watch: Video contradicts NYPD cops' story on arrest of Bronx man mistaken for being a robber

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Raymond Romero, 21, says NYPD officers slammed him to the ground, broke his pinkie finger, Tasered him and used him as a punching bag. All because they claim he didn't take his hands out of his pockets. The video shows otherwise.

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

A video obtained by the Daily News appears to back a Bronx man’s claims he was railroaded by cops on April Fools’ Day.

Raymond Romero, 21, says NYPD officers mistook him for a robber, slammed him to the ground, broke his pinkie finger, Tasered him repeatedly and used him as a punching bag.

He contends he has been locked up ever since on trumped-up charges, bolstered by lies that he refused orders to take his hands out of his pockets, fought with police and spit on them.

“This is wrong!” Romero told The News at the Brooklyn House of Detention. His lawyer has put the city on notice that he intends to sue.

A video obtained by The News appears to support part of Romero’s case, contradicting what police say transpired the night of April 1 in front of Versatile barbershop on E. 163rd St.

Officer Jose Reyes of the 41st Precinct claimed in court papers that Romero matched a description of a suspect they were searching for. Romero claimed cops told him they were looking for an armed robber in a green hoodie.

Reyes noted he “observed (Romero) to have his hands inside of his pants’ pockets, and ordered (him) to remove his hands from his pockets.”

The cop charged that Romero “began yelling . . . ‘No, I’m not f------ taking my hands out of my pocket.’ ”

But the surveillance video obtained by The News appears to dispute Reyes’ account.

The footage shows Romero, who was wearing a blue hoodie, smoking a cigarette outside the barbershop with his hands clearly outside his pockets when a police cruiser, with lights flashing, rolls up against traffic. In the video, one officer, identified as Reyes, grabs Romero around the neck of his hoodie and pushes him into a storefront.

Romero, in turn, looks to be grabbing Reyes’ hands in an attempt to free himself. Moments later, other cops joined in and tackled Romero to the ground, cuffed him and carted him off.

“The police officer clearly lied. Let the officer explain that,” said Romero’s lawyer, Alexander Sanchez, adding that he hopes Reyes is charged with perjury. Reyes could not be reached for comment. Both the NYPD and Bronx DA’s office said Romero’s allegations are under investigation.

Romero says his nightmare continued at the 41st Precinct, where he claims he was Tasered several times and beaten by another group of cops after allegedly spitting on one of them.

His bad luck only got worse when he went to court. A judge ordered Romero held without bail because he violated terms of a February 2013 plea bargain on a drug-dealing case — by getting rearrested.

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.