Fairfax County Police Watch: April 2017

In-Custody Death Investigation Underway; Initial Indications Suggest Nothing Suspicious

BY FCPD MEDIA RELATIONS BUREAU ON APRIL 16, 2017

Detectives are investigating the death of an inmate that occurred today, Sunday, April 16, at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, located at 10520 Judicial Drive in Fairfax. Sheriff’s deputies discovered a 49-year-old woman unresponsive inside her cell around 9:10 a.m. They began CPR and called for emergency medical personnel, who pronounced her dead.

Detectives responded, as it is our protocol to investigate all in-custody deaths. Detectives have established there were no apparent signs of trauma and the decedent was alone in the cell. She has been incarcerated since Wednesday, April 12.

Her identity will be released once we make appropriate notifications. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause and manner of death. An update on the investigation will be provided within 30 days or as information becomes available.

officer can move forward
By: Alexandra Limon

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge said a lawsuit against Fairfax County that alleges a police officer used excessive force can move forward.
The September 2015 incident showing an officer using a stun gun on Elton Cansler was recorded by witnesses on their cell phones in a shopping plaza in the Franconia area of Fairfax County.
During a hearing on Friday, the judge referred to the video calling it "pretty clear evidence" documenting what happened.
dge rules lawsuit claiming excessive force by Fairfax County officer can move forward
“I'm feeling good that everything is going forward,” said Cansler.
The lawsuit filed by Cansler and his attorneys states that the amount of force used by Officer Alan Hanks was excessive.
“The suit alleges a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights,” said Maxwelle Sokol, Cansler’s attorney.
Those rights guarantee a reasonable amount of force during an arrest. The portion of the lawsuit states that department policies violate those constitutional protections.
Several days after the incident, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler held a press conference clearing Officer Hanks of any wrongdoing and saying he complied with policy.
“If a police department's policy says using the Taser as it was used in this case is fine, then that is a deficient policy,” said Sokol.
However, the portion of the suit that names the police chief personally as a defendant was dismissed. But it can be filed again at a later time.
Fairfax County officials and attorneys declined to comment due to pending litigation. They instead referred us back to a written statement released by Chief Roessler in 2015 that said in part:

“The officer, a seven year member of the department, currently assigned to the Franconia District Station, was confronted by a man, later identified as Elton Cansler, who was physically resisting a lawful arrest, assaulted the officer, and kept reaching to his pocket where a knife had been seen by the officer. At the time of the deployment of the ECW, the officer could not see where Mr. Cansler’s hands were going and had reasonable fear that Mr. Cansler was again reaching into his pocket for the knife.

“The officer’s discretion was appropriately used to deploy a form of a less-lethal force and in compliance with all policies and laws in this matter.”
Cansler's attorney said the video shows his hands remained on the hood of the cruiser when he was Tased.
“I just want right to be right,” Cansler said.
The lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount of money. Instead, it leaves that up to a jury.

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.