Fairfax County Police Watch: Drunk cops

Metro Sergeant Suspended For Failure To Arrest Drunk Officer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Metropolitan Nashville Police sergeant has been suspended without pay after his part in a decision to drive another officer home when he turned up drunk at work, instead of making an immediate arrest.

Officials said South Precinct Sergeant Terrence Bradley was given a 15-day suspension without pay.

The officer who admitted to drinking and two of his supervisors were decommissioned because of the incident.

Police said 33-year-old Officer Nathan Silvers reported to work in his personal vehicle at 10:45 p.m. Friday night for his midnight shift. He was supposed to arrive at work by 10:30 p.m. but reportedly called and said he would be late.

When he arrived, Sergeant Bradley noticed the smelled of alcohol, and that Silvers' eyes were bloodshot and watery. Bradley disarmed Silvers and relieved him from duty.

Two breath alcohol tests were administered. Officials said the first test came back with a 0.31 percent blood alcohol result. The second test showed 0.25 percent. Both results were much higher than the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Silvers apparently admitted to drinking six longneck bottles of beer between 4 and 7 p.m. before reporting for duty.

Officials said Bradley consulted with Field Supervising Captain Kenny Dyer regarding the incident. They decommissioned Silvers and drove him to his Hendersonville home with the understanding that he was to report to police headquarters Monday morning.

Chief Steve Anderson and the deputy chiefs were not made aware of that decision. Once Chief Anderson learned of the incident early Saturday, he ordered a criminal investigation into the incident to be conducted by the DUI Unit.

Both Dyer and Bradley were immediately decommissioned.

Silvers was then charged with driving under the influence, unlawful gun possession while under the influence of alcohol, and violation of the implied consent law for refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test.

He submitted his resignation Monday, which will be effective following a 30-day suspension.

Captain Dyer submitted his notice of retirement Monday, which will also be effective following a 30-day suspension.

The disciplinary action against Bradley was issued Tuesday afternoon.

Silvers had just graduated from the police academy in April. Dyer, a 26-year Metro Police veteran, had been promoted to captain on March 1.

Officials said Bradley has been with the police department for 14 years.

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.