Fairfax County Police Watch: Former North Chicago police officer gets 10-year sentence for fatal wrong-way crash

CHICAGO — A former suburban Chicago police officer convicted of driving the wrong way on Lake Shore Drive in 2013 and causing a fatal crash was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Terrell Garrett, who worked for the North Chicago Police Department, was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence and two counts of reckless homicide following a crash that killed 25-year-old Joaquin Garcia, 25, and Fabian Torres, 27. In a deal with prosecutors, Garrett pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated DUI before Cook County Judge Mary Brosnahan imposed the prison sentence. It did not please the victim's families.

"My son's life was worth more than 10 years," said Cecilia Garcia, whose son was studying to be a surgical technician at Chicago's Malcolm X College.

Maria Torres, whose son was a first-year student at DePaul University, noted the judge had a sentencing range of between seven and 31 years.

"She didn't even try to go in the middle," said Maria Torres. "Ten years is not enough. It's a letdown. It's a disappointment."

Garrett was off duty at the time of the crash. Witnesses said he was traveling 60 mph or more before the two cars collided.

Cook County prosecutors say Garrett's blood alcohol content after the early-morning crash was measured at 0.184, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit.

A passenger in a third automobile involved in the crash, Eve Yeaton, was injured. Yeaton said she hasn't been able to work and sees a long list of therapists for post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion.

"In my heart, Terrell, I would like you to know I forgive you," she said. "None of us want to be in this situation, including you."

Before being sentenced, the 36-year-old Garrett said he takes responsibility for his actions.

"Today is the hardest day of my life and it's my own fault," he said. "If I could give my life for theirs I would. I'm sorry, but I know that's not good enough."

Maria Torres said she would forgive Garrett if he apologized to her from her heart.

"He does not know what he took from me," she said. "He took a beautiful person. He had a beautiful soul."

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.