Fairfax County Police Watch: Three officers suspended over dispute

An internal investigation stemming from a dispute between a supervisor and a patrolman has led to a three-day suspension for a third officer at Vermilion Police Department.

Last month, administrators began probing the rift between Vermilion police Sgt. Aaron Bolton and Officer Craig Howell.

The long-running feud centered on Howell’s relationship with his own girlfriend and Bolton’s disapproval of the relationship, according to internal police documents the Register obtained through a public records request.

Bolton also accused Howell of profiling women by age and appearance during traffic stops, according to the documents.

After speaking to Howell about the allegations, police supervisors determined they were unfounded.

In a formal complaint dated Sept. 10, Howell said his friction with Bolton started in April. That’s when Howell started dating a woman who was friends with Bolton and Bolton’s wife, according to the complaint. Bolton made it clear he didn’t approve of Howell’s relationship with the woman, the document stated.

Other events transpired in the months that followed, but Howell never made a formal complaint — that is, until Bolton sent an email to the commander of Erie County’s Special Response Team. The email suggested Howell wasn’t suited for the unit.

At that point, Howell sent his supervisors a three-page letter detailing his formal complaints against Bolton. In short, he accused Bolton of various misdeeds, such as providing Howell’s private address to a resident during a police ride-along, and making false allegations about misconduct. He also accused Bolton of namecalling and defamation, among other things.

Supervisors interviewed Bolton, Howell and a third officer, David Jones, about the allegations.

The bulk of the investigation’s findings have since been sent to Vermilion law director Ken Stumphauzer for review.

Jones was suspended for three days. Police documents show Jones played a part in driving a police ride-along passenger past Howell’s home. The passenger was previously engaged to Howell’s girlfriend.

“While the lion’s share of the blame for that incident rests on another’s shoulders, you still bear your share of the blame for failing to recognize a malicious and inappropriate act and partaking in it,” police Chief Chris Hartung wrote in a disciplinary letter to Jones. “You and you alone answer for your integrity and cannot allow your actions to be guided by those of questionable character.”

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.