Fairfax County Police Watch: Cop Is Fired For Sleeping On Job, Is Rewarded With Nearly $1 Million After Filing Lawsuit

A federal jury has awarded nearly $1 million in wages and damages to a former McPherson, Kansas, police officer who was fired after being found asleep on duty.

According to the McPherson Sentinel, Matthew B. Michaels alleged the city violated his civil rights, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Kansas Wage Payment Act when he was fired for sleeping on the job. Michaels has sleep apnea, and claims that the disability resulted in his dismissal, which was a violation of his rights. It appears the courts agree.

Michaels alleged he was denied a “name clearing hearing” after his termination, was denied four days of vacation, and that the city interfered with one day of family medical leave. Michael’s attorney, Ray Simmons, said in an email to The Associated Press Thursday that Michaels is pleased to get a “name-clearing hearing” in federal court, where a jury rendered a verdict in his favor. The court judgement came as a shock to many. On Wednesday, the city was ordered to pay $921,657, plus interest, court costs, and attorney’s fees, to Michaels for his back and future wages and damages for pain and suffering.

The Kansas City Star notes that City Attorney Jeff Houston said the fight is not over. The city has filed motions in the case that are yet to be decided, including one that asks a judge to overturn the jury’s verdict. Houston says he still has “faith in the process” despite the verdict.

“The city is disappointed in the jury verdict, but we still have faith in the process, and we are moving forward under that belief.”

If the city is unsuccessful in its fight to overturn the verdict and an appeal, the city’s insurance would be required to pay Michaels the full judgement amount. Attorneys for the city’s insurer are handling the case, and say the city has already met its deductible in relation to this lawsuit.

This isn’t the first lawsuit Michaels has filed against the city. A case was settled in April that involved Michaels alleging the city owed him and other officers for unpaid overtime for the department’s “hot seat” program. This program involved officers being picked up for work about five minutes prior to the start of their shifts. It was a long-standing program that was popular among officers because it allowed many to be one-car families.

However, if a call came in when the officers were on the way to the station, they had to respond. The city terminated the hot seat program in light of the lawsuit. Two other officers joined a class action with Michaels. The three officers were paid $38,019 in back pay and other fees to settle the lawsuit. The city denied its policy was a willful violation of the law.

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.