Wednesday, May 19, 2010Last Update: 9:06 AM PT
Court House News Service
Man Says Sleepy Cop Got Him Shot
FAIRFAX, Va. (CN) - A man who tried to report an assault in the parking lot of a Fairfax County police station says he was shot five times after the front desk cop, who "appeared to be sleeping," told him to go back outside. As he lay bleeding in the cops' parking lot, he says, he had to use his own cell phone to call an ambulance.
Najib Gerdak accuses Fairfax County and the "indifferent" Jane Doe officer at the Franconia District Police Station of gross and wanton negligence, in Fairfax County Court.
Gerdak says the shooting occurred in the early morning of Feb. 2, 2008, when he noticed a car following him, prompting him to drive to the Franconia District Police Station. He says a taxicab pulled into the parking lot, followed by a speeding SUV that repeatedly rammed the cab.
Gerdak says he ran into the station, and as he approached the officer at the front desk, "he noticed that her eyes were closed, her feet were propped up on the desk, and she appeared to be sleeping."
Gerdak says he woke her up to alert her of the situation taking place just outside the station, but the officer appeared "indifferent" and "refused to render assistance."
He says the officer told him to tell the cab driver to call his dispatcher to report the incident.
Gerdak says that when he went outside to do that, the driver of the SUV shot him five times.
"While on the ground injured and bleeding, Gerdak called for his own ambulance using his personal cellular phone," he says in his complaint.
Then, Gerdak says, he waited for 20 minutes for an ambulance to reach him.
Gerdak claims he suffered permanent nerve damage from the shooting, and required emergency surgery to repair his "eviscerated colon."
He demands $10 million in compensatory damages, and punitive damages, for gross negligence, willful and wanton negligence, failure to protect, and other charges.
He is represented by Katherine Martell of Falls Church.
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A Fairfax County man who was shot five times by an assailant in the parking lot of a Fairfax County police station is suing the county for $10 million, claiming he was told by a police officer -- whom he allegedly had woken up fro m a dead sleep -- to go back outside the station after going inside to report an assault on another man by the same assailant.
Najib Gerdak,28, of Springfield claims in the suit -- filed April 27 in Fairfax County Circuit Court -- that after being shot five times in the abdomen, groin, leg and shoulder outside the Franconia District police station, no police officers came outside to help him nor did anyone inside the police station call for an ambulance.
The suit further claims that while Gerdak lay on the ground bleeding from the gunshot wounds, he was forced to call for an ambulance on his own cell phone in an effort to save his life. The incident occurred on Feb. 2, 2008.
The assailant was later identified as Jeffrey Scott Koger, 40, who at the time lived in Herndon and was the former chief financial officer of the Koger Management Group in Fairfax.
Koger was convicted of attempted capital murder of a police officer stemming from the same event that day, and is serving a 66-year term in prison.
According to court records and testimony, the sequence of events on Feb. 2, 2008, began at 2:59 a.m., when a 35-year-old taxi driver was shot in the chest with a .38 caliber handgun by Koger, who was driving a dark-colored SUV.
Koger then followed another cab, which pulled into the Franconia police station.
According to the suit, Gerdak claims that the same morning around 3 a.m., he noticed that he was being followed by an unidentified vehicle. Instead of continuing home, he drove to the nearby Franconia police station, where he exited his car and began talking to the person in the unidentified vehicle.
It was then that the taxi cab being pursued by Koger pulled up at high speed .
Koger then rammed the taxi cab several times with his own vehicle. Gerdak claims in the suit that the taxi driver rolled down his window and called for help. Gerdak says in the suit that he then entered the police station where he found a woman who appeared to be a police officer asleep at the front desk, "her feet propped up on the desk."
After telling the alleged officer -- who the suit refers to as "Jane Doe" -- about the situation outside in the parking lot, he claims he was told to go back outside. When he did, he was shot repeatedly by Koger and called for medical help on his cell phone.
"Fairfax County police failed to protect this man, who was acting as a good Samaritan," said Gerdak's attorney, Katherine Martell. The suit charges the county with both gross negligence and willful and wanton negligence.
Martell said Gerdak still has a bullet lodged in his groin that causes him great pain. "This is a young man, 28 years old, that may not be able to have children and is in need of expensive corrective surgery," she said. Martell said the name of the sleeping woman has not been divulged by police, but said she thinks it can be obtained through the discovery portion of the trial.
Martell said Gerdak originally retained another attorney who agreed to a protective order disallowing surveillance video and police radio chatter to be used as evidence in his case.
"I am hopeful that I can have that order removed," she said Monday. "Currently, we are awaiting the county to file its paperwork in the case before proceeding to trial."
It is the policy of Fairfax County not to comment on pending litigation
