Fairfax County Police Watch: Calls for Fairfax Police Chief to resign, complaints and police reform being discussed

by Timothy Barber

Fairfax County, VA (ABC7) — Fairfax County’s Public Safety Committee met Tuesday afternoon to talk about police complaints and a study into the department’s use of force.

Presentation were made by the leaders of the Police Civilian Review Panel and Independent Police Auditor Richard Schott.

Professors from the University of Texas at San Antonio also made a presentation about a study they are doing on the agency’s use of force data. The study is looking for potential reasons or causes for racial disparities.

It is expected to be completed with recommendations in early 2021.

The Police Civilian Review Panel processed 29 complaints last year, with two complaints resulting in changes.

So far, the panel has received 18 complaints this year.

The Independent Police Auditor reviewed 22 cases last year.

Last month, Fairfax County Officer Tyler Timberlake was caught on body camera firing a stun gun multiple times at an unarmed Black man who was having some sort of episode in the middle of a street.

Yesterday, Timberlake was indicted on three counts of assault and battery.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano released the following in a statement:

“Today the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office successfully indicted Tyler Timberlake on three counts of assault and battery. This means that we can now look ahead to a jury trial that will give our community an opportunity to weigh in on this important case. I believe the community’s involvement in deciding this matter is essential and is why we pursued and obtained today’s grand jury indictments.”

Police Chief Ed Roessler released the body camera video after the incident and condemned the officer’s actions— a move that sparked calls for his resignation by the local police union.

Brad Carruthers, President of Fairfax Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 77 said in part; “I would like to convey just how disappointed and disheartened we are with your recent statements and actions. It has become abundantly clear that your political agenda trumps your obligation to being a fair and impartial leader. When you publicly excoriate an officer under your command, characterizing their actions as "disgusting" without even a nascent investigation, you have crossed the line from Chief of Police to that of politician playing dress up.”

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.