Fairfax County Police Watch: We REALLY need national IQ standards for cops

Revere police officer accidentally shoots himself

Officer's wounds not life-threatening

REVERE, Mass. —A Revere police officer accidentally shot himself in the leg at his home Friday morning, police said. The officer's gun discharged as he was putting his holster on.The officer, who lives in the Beachmont section of Revere, was taken to a hospital with wounds that were said not to be life-threatening.

Iowa City officer accidentally shoots himself and another officer

While a police officer was cleaning a gun, it reportedly discharged causing the officer to accidentally shoot himself and another officer.

The Iowa City police officers had been doing a routine cleaning of their service weapons at the Iowa City Police Department Monday, November 10, 2014, according to a release from the City of Iowa City. The city’s Daily Activity log indicated that at 8:37 two ambulances were sent to their department on Highway 6 East when an officer accidentally fired his weapon., shooting himself and another nearby officer.

Both sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The officers were taken to nearby hospitals, were treated and released.

The release stated that the names of the officers were not going to be released. The Iowa City Police Department planned to conduct an internal investigation.

Davie Police Officer Accidentally Shoots Himself in the Foot

By Chris Joseph Mon., Nov. 17 2014 at 2:27 PM

A Davie police officer was hanging out at Geronimos Bar & Grill, located at 3528 S. University Drive, on Saturday night when the .380 caliber Glock in his pocket accidentally discharged, shooting him in the foot.

The officer, Maiker Sanchez, 36, was not on duty at the time and was having dinner with a party that included other officers from Davie as well as from the Miami-Dade Police force. Sanchez's wife and two daughters were also with him when he shot himself.

See also: Jose Canseco Shoots Off Middle Finger in Gun Accident

According to the incident report, Sanchez says he thinks the ring on his key chain may have hooked onto the weapon's trigger, causing it to fire. Sanchez reportedly keeps the gun in his hip pocket.

The report says Sanchez was preparing to leave the restaurant when the incident occurred. One of the other officers who was at the dinner was walking out of the restaurant when he said he heard a pop. When he turned, he saw Sanchez sprawled on the ground, his foot covered in blood.

Sanchez was rushed by Davie Fire Rescue to Memorial Hospital in Pembroke, where he was treated and released.

The report says Sanchez suffered a bullet wound that ran through his right foot. He also reportedly suffered a burn to his right thigh.

He is recovering at home.

Police say there were no other injuries and don't believe alcohol played a role in the shooting.

Back in May, Sanchez made news when he and several fellow Davie officers had violated the department's "no malingering" policy when they took time off at the same time.

According to an internal affairs investigation, Sanchez and five other officers were caught hanging out at La Placita restaurant, located at 6700 Stirling Road. Department policy prohibits four or more officers to gather in the same area at the same time. The policy was put in place to keep officers from congregating while on duty and thus neglecting to do their job.

The report says a Davie resident walked into the café and saw the on-duty officers hanging out and talking about sports. The resident reported the officers to the Davie department.

According to the report, Sanchez was one of two officers who received a harsher penalty for the violation -- three-day suspensions without pay -- because he had gotten in trouble for a previous, undisclosed incident and was subject to "progressive discipline."

Sanchez is not facing any disciplinary action for shooting himself in the foot.

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.