Iraq War veteran meets with Fairfax police chief after apartment incident

WASHINGTON — The case of a sleeping Iraq War veteran awakened in an Alexandria apartment by Fairfax County police officers pointing their guns at him, has led to a meeting with the county’s police chief.

The caller was concerned that a squatter might be living inside.

In fact, Alex Horton had permission to stay in the unit while repairs were being made to his own apartment.

A police investigation found the officers did not break any rules or laws, and Horton agrees with those findings.

“How they’re written and how appropriate they are to use … that remains in contest,” he tells WTOP.

He says the officers’ response in his case was too aggressive, and in an op-ed in The Washington Post, he called the experience “terrifying.” He also described how the tactics used by police reminded him of those he had used as an infantryman in Iraq.

Horton says he had a productive meeting on Tuesday with Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler.

“We see eye-to-eye philosophically about how police need to rethink their use of force, and rethink their restraint,” Horton said. “(Roessler) used the phrase ‘on point’ to describe some of my observations about how police need to slow down and use restraint.”

Horton hopes changes will be made by the chief that will actually lead to changes in the way the county’s police officers work.

“Are the guys and gals on the ground going to be willing to change their culture? That remains to be seen,” he said.

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The toll of police shootings in Fairfax

By Editorial Board August 15

FAIRFAX COUNTY’S police force, which has become notorious for withholding information in cases of police-involved shootings — even going so far as failing to report incidents for the FBI’s use in compiling national statistics — has made a gesture toward openness. The department, with 1,372 officers the state’s biggest local police agency, has issued a breakdown of every police-involved shooting, and its aftermath, within its 407-square-mile borders over the past decade — a useful step in the direction of transparency.

The data are at once familiar and novel. Cases made notorious in the headlines — Salvatore J. Culosi, the unarmed optometrist, shot to death in 2006; David A. Masters, the unarmed former Green Beret, shot to death in 2009; John Geer, the unarmed father of two, shot to death in his own doorway in 2013 — are reprised. So is the melee in 2006 in which a gunman wielding an AK-47 assault rifle and other weapons attacked a police station in Chantilly, fatally wounding a detective and another officer before he was killed in the crossfire.

In all, starting in 2005, the department details 37 instances of police-involved shootings, and their toll: 16 civilians killed, and another 16 wounded.

In 13 of those instances, the civilians on whom the police opened fire were unarmed, although in most cases they were driving vehicles in a way that the officer or officers at the scene perceived as dangerous or threatening.

The good news, we suppose, is that it appears police-involved shootings in the county have been occurring with somewhat less frequency. After several years of six or seven such incidents annually, there has been no year with more than three since 2008 — and none so far this year.

The data and, especially, the descriptions of individual incidents are a reminder of the hazards of police work and the enormous pressure under which officers are sometimes forced to make highly charged, split-second decisions.

They are also a reminder of how reluctant Fairfax, like many other states and localities, has been to find fault with officers who open fire in the line of duty.

Out of the 37 shootings examined in the past decade, only five have been adjudged to constitute a violation of Fairfax police rules and regulations. In no instance in the past decade, nor in the several decades before that, have county prosecutors found a police officer criminally liable for having opened fire.

That long precedent may be upset in the coming weeks if a special grand juryconvened to review the shooting of Geer hands up an indictment of Adam D. Torres, the officer who shot Geer as he stood at the threshold of his home in Springfield two years ago. Mr. Torres was fired from the police force late last month.

It’s worth noting that the decision to call a grand jury to examine Mr. Torres’s actions in the Geer case came about only after months of pressure by a judge, a U.S. senator, local elected officials and the media. Hopefully the police in Fairfax are starting to get the message that openness is a critical part of their compact with the community their serve.

Father of police shooting victim: ‘I feel justice is being served’

By Nick Iannelli | @NickWTOPAugust 18, 2015 2:11 pm

FAIRFAX STATION, Va. — Nearly two years after his son was killed by a Fairfax County police officer, Don Geer says his family has taken a step toward closure now that the officer who pulled the trigger has been indicted.

On Monday, Adam Torres was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of John Geer, 46.

Police were called to John Geer’s Springfield town house for a domestic dispute in August 2013. Geer had placed a gun on the ground, but he was not armed at the time.

“At this point now, I feel justice is being served,” Don Geer told WTOP.

But it has been an emotionally painful, arduous process for the Geer family. They waited months to hear even basic details of the police investigation into their son’s shooting.

“It’s just terrible to spend all this time laying in bed at night wondering what took place,” said Don Geer.

“There’s just thousands of things that go through your mind of what could have happened.”

Torres claims he fired one shot after seeing Geer reach down toward his waist. Witnesses, including other officers and Don Geer, have disagreed with that account saying his arms remained above his shoulders.

Torres left the Fairfax Co. police department July 31, and he is being held without bond on the murder charge.

This is the first time in the history of Fairfax County that an officer has been prosecuted for a shooting that happened while on duty.

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© 2015 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.

Ex-Policeman Faints in Court After Being Denied Bail: Media Reports

 

Adam Torres will face trial Dec. 14 for shooting of Springfield man.

By CHRIS GAUDET (Patch Staff) 

A former Fairfax County policeman fainted in court Wednesday and was taken to a hospital after a judge denied him bail, according to media reports.

Adam Torres, 31, has been charged with murder in the 2013 shooting death of John Geer, 46, during a standoff at his home in Springfield. Torres was in court Wednesday for an arraignment and bond hearing; the judge set the trial date for Dec. 14, according to WJLA-TV Channel 7.

Torres collapsed to the floor, and the courtroom was cleared as a medic treated him, radio station WTOP reported. The hearing resumed after Torres was taken to the hospital.

The Fairfax County Police Department fired Torres on July 31, after the department drew heavy criticism for the length of time it took to investigate the shooting, among other factors. A special grand jury indicted Torres on Monday, and Torres turned himself in Monday evening, according to media reports.

No plea offer for ex-officer accused of murdering John Geer

By Max Smith | @amaxsmithAugust 18, 2015 7:08 pm

Former Fairfax County police officer, Adam Torres, was charged with the second-degree murder of John Geer on Monday, August 17, 2015, following an indictment returned by a special grand jury convened in the case. (Fairfax...

FAIRFAX, Va. — The former Fairfax County Police officer accused of murdering John Geer about two years ago is due in court Wednesday, and the county’s top prosecutor says Adam Torres is not being offered a plea deal.

In an interview with WTOP, Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh says he expects the case to go to trial.

Torres shot and killed Geer in August 2013 after responding to a domestic dispute at Geer’s home.

Geer had been talking to other officers in the doorway when he was shot, and officers cited safety concerns as a reason not to immediately enter the home after the shooting.

While records obtained through a civil case show Torres told investigators that he saw Geer’s hands flinch toward his waist, other officers and witnesses disputed that.

Torres was indicted Monday by a special grand jury Morrogh convened to hear the evidence and witnesses in the case. Torres turned himself in Monday evening, and has been held without bond.

He could request bond at the 10 a.m. hearing Wednesday.

Morrogh blames the long delay in the case on county police initially refusing to turn over additional information about Torres, on the advice of the county attorney’s office.

“We were denied access to certain evidence, which turned out to be pretty critical evidence, by the way,” he says.

Morrogh says he believes that the board of supervisors would have had that information turned over if they had been fully informed about the situation.

“It took way too long. This case should have been resolved by now, and typically it would have been,” Morrogh says.

He declined to be more specific about which particular evidence he believes was so critical.

“You want to have all the facts before you make a decision. It affects what level of charge you’re going to charge, whether or not you’re going to charge, and in point of fact I didn’t have all the facts until about February,” he says.

The special grand jury was convened this summer. After meeting for a week in July, it handed up the indictment late on its sixth day in session.

Before prosecutors left the grand jury room, and opened up the secrecy, Morrogh says the lead detective on the case called John Geer’s father Don Geer and Geer’s longtime partner Maura Harrington to let them know about the indictment.

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Hell freezes over! Ex-police officer indicted on murder charge in 2013 shooting

 

Originally published August 18, 2015 at 7:06 am Updated August 18, 2015 at 6:27 am

The Associated Press

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A former Fairfax County police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man as he stood inside his front door with his hands up in 2013 was indicted Monday on a second-degree murder charge, authorities said.

A special grand jury convened by Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh returned the indictment against Adam Torres, 32, in the shooting death of John Geer of Springfield.

Torres fatally shot Geer, 46, in August 2013 after a report of a domestic dispute. Witnesses, including other officers, said Geer was unarmed and had his hands up when he was shot. Torres told investigators he thought Geer might have a weapon hidden in his waist.

Michael Lieberman, an attorney for Geer’s family, said the indictment is “a substantial step toward justice for John Geer. A Fairfax County jury will now be able to determine what’s fair and just, which is all the family wanted.”

 Lieberman said he considered the charge appropriate for what he called an intentional shooting.

Police said Torres, who had been an officer since 2006, was fired on July 31. Police said Monday night that Torres turned himself in and is being held without bond in the county jail.

His lawyer did not return a call for comment.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said in a statement, “We have great respect for the Special Grand Jury process, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County, and the criminal justice system as this matter proceeds.”

The chief’s statement continued: “The loss of life is tragic for all. We express our sympathy to the Geer family, support to our great community and the men and women of the Fairfax County Police Department.”

The charges came two years after the shooting, and Fairfax County faced intense criticism during that time for a lack of transparency about its investigation. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, questioned county officials about their actions.

At one point, Morrogh asked federal authorities to investigate the case, because the county’s own lawyers advised police against turning over records sought by Morrogh. Police did not identify Torres as the shooter until after the family filed a civil lawsuit, and a judge ordered the county to turn over portions of its investigative files. Those documents showed that months before the Geer shooting, Torres had an angry “meltdown” during an incident at the county courthouse in which Torres cursed at a prosecutor and stormed out.

In April, the county agreed to settle the civil lawsuit for nearly $3 million, the largest in Virginia history in connection with a police shooting.

Cases show progress on issue of police accountability in shootings

By Roger Chesley

The Virginian-Pilot

© August 20, 2015

RARELY ARE police officers charged with a crime when they shoot and kill someone. The Washington Post reported this year that since 2005, only 54 officers nationwide were charged in such killings. That's a tiny fraction of the thousands of people shot fatally by police over that period.

So it's noteworthy that two officers were indicted recently in fatal shootings in Virginia, in confrontations in Norfolk and Fairfax County.

In Norfolk, a grand jury indicted Officer Michael Carlton Edington Jr. in June with voluntary manslaughter in the death of David Latham, a mentally ill man, at his home in June 2014. Latham had a knife. Edington faces a motions hearing Sept. 1, said a spokeswoman with the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

In Northern Virginia, Adam D. Torres, now fired from the Fairfax County Police Department, was charged this week with second-degree murder in an August 2013 slaying. Torres shot a man who had a holstered gun at his feet.

Experts who study police use of force, especially involving African American and Latino victims, told me it's too early to know whether such charges represent a trend. Investigators and prosecutors have tended to give police the benefit of the doubt - no matter the circumstances.

At least one academic said, however, that scrutiny of police will remain high following cases in Ferguson, Mo.; New York City; Baltimore; North Charleston, S.C.; and elsewhere. The "Black Lives Matter" movement is playing a role, too, in keeping up pressure.

Ronnie Dunn is a professor at Cleveland State University and researches policing, crime and diversity. He cited the prevalence of video footage and cellphone cameras in contributing to indictments.

"Video verifies what blacks have been saying," Dunn said, about officers using excessive force - sometimes in minor crimes.

Whites are also victims of police excesses. Such are the accusations in Fairfax County, where 46-year-old John Geer died in the 2013 standoff following a domestic disturbance call. Witnesses, including other police officers, said Geer had his hands up and wasn't armed when he was shot. The case sparked protests.

News outlets reported that Torres, the former officer charged in the case, collapsed in court Wednesday after being denied bail.

Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, is a former officer and assisted The Washington Post with a lengthy article published in April. "The dirty little secret that police officers sometimes lie on their reports" is taken more seriously now, Stinson told me.

If these developments change things for the better - good. Citizens shouldn't fear their police departments. Nor should officers automatically get off scot-free.

I'll say it again: The men and women in blue have tough jobs, make life-and-death decisions, and often deal with dangerous criminals. Most officers remain professional in thankless, stressful situations.

Some, however, abuse their authority. They let power go to their heads. They cross the line when motorists and other suspects don't show deference or subservience.

That must change.

Police departments have begun looking inward, examining shortcomings and modifying procedures. Since the police-shooting deaths in Norfolk last year of two people with mental illness, including Latham, the Police Department has trained more than 200 officers in a 40-hour crisis intervention course.

I want law enforcers to have the training and skills to do their job.

But they must face the consequences if they kill without justification.

Roger Chesley, 757-446-2329, roger.chesley@pilotonline.com, pilotonline.com/chesley, facebook.com/RogerChesley, @ChesleyRoger on Twitter

Police Indictments for Murder Are Soaring, But Is This an Epidemic?

Posted by David Love

The number of cops officers indicted for murder, homicide or manslaughter while on duty has soared in recent months, underscoring the problem of police violence—particularly as the killing of unarmed Black people by police has taken the national spotlight.  Reporting for The Atlantic,Conor Friedersdorf wrote that over the past five months, at least 14 police officers were indicted for killing while on duty, which is five times the normal rate.

For example, in the Atlanta area, two former East Point police officers were indicted on charges they murdered Gregory Lewis Towns, Jr.  The cops were charged with killing Towns, a 24-year old father, by repeatedly tasering the handcuffed man while he was sitting in a creek.

In Fairfax County, Va., Adam D. Torres, a former police officer, was charged with second-degree murder this week for fatally shooting John Geer, who stood with his hands raised in the doorway of his house nearly two years ago.  The indictment marks the first time in the 75-year history of the Fairfax County Police Department that a police officer has faced criminal prosecution related to a shooting while on duty.  The death spurred protests and led to a review of the department’s policies on the use of force.

Further, in July, University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing was charged with the murder of Black motorist Sam Dubose during a traffic stop. In addition, a month earlier, a grand jury in South Carolina indicted former North Charleston officer Michael T. Slager for shooting Walter Scott in the back, killing him as he fled after a traffic stop.  A month earlier, Baltimore prosecutors announced a grand jury indictment of six officers in the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.  Further, a judge in Cleveland has announced he believes there is probable cause to charge police in the death of Tamir Rice, 12, who was fatally shot last year while playing with a toy gun.

According to Friedersdorf, police in America might very well be charged at a higher rate today, noting that over a seven-year period ending in 2011, an average of 5.8 officers were charged per year, excluding non-shooting deaths, while from May 2005 to April 2015, an average of 5.4 officers were charged per year.  Meanwhile, the 14 officers charged over the past five months comes out to an annualized rate of 33.6 charges per year, which is more than five times the normal rate.

This discussion of police indictments for murder comes as large U.S. cities are paying ever-increasing amounts of money to settle police misconduct cases in recent years.  The Wall Street Journal reported on July 15, 2015 that the cost of police brutality cases has jumped in recent years, even before the recent scrutiny the police have faced over tactics.  In 2014, the cities with the ten largest police departments doled out $248.7 million in settlements and court judgments in police misconduct cases, up nearly 50 percent from $168.3 million in 2010.  Those cities paid a total of $1.02 billion over those five years, in cases including alleged beatings, shootings and wrongful imprisonment. Moreover, the total increases to $1.4 billion when claims related to property damage, car collisions, and other police-related incidents are taken into account.

Last month, the City of New York settled with the family of Eric Garner for the high-profile chokehold death of the Black Staten Island resident that sparked massive protests, for an agreed settlement amount of $5.9 million.

Meanwhile, the data and dollar amounts and the charges in these horrific cases tend to gloss over the human toll of police violence in the Black community.  Writing for NPR on August 19, Gene Demby wrote about the toll that reporting on Black death has taken on him and other Black journalists, with the ever-increasing cases.  Demby reflected on the stress–and while he did not explicitly say it, the vicarious trauma–that Black reporters face while coverage the multitude of killings involving police brutality and misconduct.

“Those of us on the black death beat have to make it to next November, and beyond, without burning out. So how are we going to do it?” Demby asked. “While the industry writ large has yet to take on that question, the beat has given rise to its own informal support network — folks emailing and Google chatting and texting to check on whoever’s heading out to the latest conflagration or sure to be on the hook for a long essay.”

Moreover, Demby channeled a journalist from an earlier era who was faced with numerous cases of violence against Black bodies:

“It is with no pleasure that I have dipped my hands in the corruption here exposed,” wrote the 19th century investigative journalist Ida B. Wells, a black woman born in Holly Springs, Miss., in 1862, in the preface to Southern Horrors: Lynch Law In All Its Phases, her incredibly well-researched pamphlet on hundreds of lynching cases. “It seems to have fallen upon me to do so.”

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Feds Investigate Death of Black Inmate in Fairfax Jail

August 20, 2015 12:24 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. — The Department of Justice  says it has launched a civil rights investigation into the death of a black inmate earlier this year who was subjected to shocks from a stun gun during a cell transfer.

A department spokesman said Thursday that its Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia have launched an independent investigation into the death of Natasha McKenna.

Officials say McKenna stopped breathing Feb. 3 after she was shocked multiple times while shackled andwearing  a hood as she resisted efforts to move her from her cell. She died five days later.

A medical  examiner’s report ruled McKenna’s death was accidental.

Fairfax County Police completed their investigation last month and sent the case to Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh for review.

Analysis: Wave of Police Officers Charged in Killing – Blip or New Trend?

Posted by David Greenwald

The willingness for prosecutors to charge and prosecute police officers for on-duty murder is one of the biggest changes that has happened in the last year since the fallout from Ferguson and Staten Island. When a Grand Jury refused to indict officers involved in the killings of Michael Brown of Ferguson and Eric Garner of Staten Island, it was largely business as usual for prosecutors reluctant to charge police officers for crimes committed while on duty.

We saw this in Yolo County. In 2009, sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Luis Gutierrez, who they said fled from them on Gum Avenue in Woodland and then pulled a knife.

Six months after the shooting, the DA’s office concluded their investigation and found, “When considering all of the facts and circumstances known to them at the time, the use of deadly force by the deputies was objectively reasonable and justified and therefore does not warrant the filing of criminal charges against Sgt. Johnson, Deputy Oviedo or Deputy Bautista.”

Said Assistant Chief Deputy Jonathan Raven at the time, “The district attorney’s report was based on a lengthy (Woodland) Police Department investigation and we were thorough and deliberate.  We came to a decision and even asked the attorney general to review it, and we also asked the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to conduct their own investigation, and certainly we hope the community is comfortable with the decision, because that’s important to us.”

A jury in a federal civil rights case in the fall of 2012 found for the officers in that case – the shooting was not captured on video.

In 2012, ten months after the November 18, 2011, pepper-spraying incident at UCD, the DA’s office concluded “that the use of force in this case was not unlawful.”

In their conclusion, the DA wrote, “Lieutenant Pike’s pepper spraying of the seated protesters has been seen by and has outraged millions of viewers throughout the world. Based on the thirty seconds of video that most people have seen the pepper spraying may look like unreasonable force.”

“In evaluating the totality of the circumstances under a reasonable doubt standard, we have considered and given substantial weight to the opinions and conclusions set forth in the Kroll Report,” the DA writes. “In light of this additional evidence, and viewing the incident through the totality of the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges.”

Even on the few cases when prosecutors were willing to seek indictment or otherwise charge police officers for fatal shootings, getting convictions was difficult.

Oscar Grant was shot by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle on New Year’s Day 2009. Officers detained Mr. Grant and others on the platform of the BART station. Officer Mehserle stood and said, “Get back, I’m gonna Tase him.” Then, the officer drew his pistol and shot Mr. Grant in the back. Mr. Grant, unarmed, was pronounced dead the next day. This event was captured on video and widely disseminated.

In 2010, Mr. Mehserle was charged with murder, and he resigned his position. In July, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He would be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years and released in June of 2011, having served 11 months.

These types of decisions represented conventional wisdom at the time. Even when prosecutors were inclined to charge police officers with crimes, they feared juries would side with the police.

However, an Atlantic article this week finds that, over the past five months, 14 police officers have been charged in on-duty killings – a rate that represents five times the previous rate for charging.

This week, a judge ordered Albuquerque officers to stand trial for killing a homeless man as he appeared to surrender. The same day, “two former East Point police officers were indicted on charges that they murdered a 24-year-old father by repeatedly using their Tasers on him while he was handcuffed and sitting in a creek,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

On Monday, the Washington Post reported that a “former Fairfax County police officer was charged with second-degree murder, nearly two years after he shot an unarmed Springfield man who stood with his hands raised in the doorway of his home.”

In July we had the prosecution of Ray Tensing for the killing of Samuel DuBose, in June Michael Slager was charged with the killing of Walter Scott, and in May six officers were indicted on homicide charges connected to the death of Freddie Gray.

The Washington Post cataloguing of police murders found that “American police officers kill orders of magnitude more people than their counterparts in other western democracies.” The Atlantic reports that “the number of U.S. cops arrested for killingsin the last five months exceeds the total number of people shot and killed by cops in England going back five years. This is particularly extraordinary, given how reluctant many U.S. prosecutors are to file charges against police, and how much deference police reports are given in the absence of video or forensic evidence, like a bullet in the back, that blatantly contradicts their story.”

In a seven-year period ending in 2011, just 41 officers were charged in connection with on-duty shootings, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014, citing research by Philip Stinson, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. “That figure works out to an average of 5.8 officers charged per year, but excludes officers charged in non-shooting deaths.”

The Atlantic notes, “And while it may be that the five-month period we’re in now will look like just an unusual cluster, if the rate at which cops are indicted for killings continues at this pace, then we’re witnessing a sharp disjuncture with the recent past.”

If this trend continues, then it would appear that the protests and awareness brought by the #Blacklivesmatter movement will have led to policy change. If it reverts, then it will just have been a momentary blip, soon forgotten.

—David M. Greenwald reporting