Fairfax County Police Watch: The epidemic of mentally unstable cops continues and the federal government does nothing to stop it

Judge upholds lower court ruling; case against officer charged with assault will proceed

By Danielle Salisbury

OFFICER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT

• Circuit judge reviewing lower court ruling in case of public safety officer charged with felonious assault

• Blackman-Leoni officer accused of felonious assault pointed gun at floor while giving fellow officer 'eerie stare', testimony reveals

• Blackman-Leoni public safety officer charged with felonious assault against co-worker

JACKSON, MI – Officer Brent Doxtader's behavior the day he allegedly assaulted a co-worker was "unusual, even manic," Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson wrote in a decision issued Friday, Jan. 16.

Wilson found District Judge R. Darryl Mazur did not abuse his discretion by ruling there was probable cause to believe Doxtader, a Blackman-Leoni Township public safety officer, committed felonious assault when, behaving strangely, he unholstered his duty weapon Jan. 19, 2014, and stared at Detective David Lubahn.

The lower court's ruling, spoken at a September preliminary examination, was "not violative of fact or logic," states Wilson's opinion, written in response to a motion by Doxtader's attorney, Michael Vincent, to overrule Mazur's finding.

Had Wilson granted the motion, the charge, absent a successful appeal, would have been dismissed.

A special prosecutor, assigned at Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka's request, charged Doxtader in July with felonious assault, punishable by a maximum prison term of four years.

About 1:50 a.m., Doxtader entered the living quarters at the Leoni Township fire station on Fifth Street, approached Detective Robert Shrock, shook his hand and patted Shrock on the shoulder, according to the opinion. He then "bear-hugged" Lubahn, knocking off Lubahn's glasses.

Doxtader stepped back about 6 feet, unholstered his gun and pointed it at the ground. After staring at Lubahn for several silent moments, Doxtader announced he was there to "f--- something up."

At Lubahn's nervous suggestion, the men walked to the department fire truck, and when they returned to the living quarters, Doxtader "continued to act rambunctiously," punching one of the walls and reiterating his desire to "f--- something up," the opinion states.

Wilson acknowledged a video of the incident shows Doxtader in an "excited, happy mood," but his actions taken as a whole are sufficient to demonstrate he attempted to "commit a battery" or caused a reasonable person to "fear or apprehend an immediate battery."

"His behavior was unusual, even manic, and all of it took place while (Doxtader) had his own gun out and was standing next to Detective Lubahn's unholstered gun," the decision states.

During a December hearing, Vincent contended Doxtader was acting "weird," but was neither homicidal nor suicidal. His actions were, at most, a violation of department rules, the attorney said.

Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Brenda Taylor said Lubahn made the only reasonable conclusion, that his life was in danger.

A jury should be allowed to decide his guilt or innocence, she said, and Wilson's decision assures it could.

In the meantime, Doxtader remains a department employee. He is suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal case, Deputy Director Jon Johnston earlier

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.