Fairfax County Police Watch: DUI Trial Underway For Ex-Officer Charged In ATV Crash

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Trial is underway for former Miami Beach police officer charged with four felonies after he was involved in an ATV crash on the beach which seriously injured two people in 2011.

Derick Kuilan and his partner were allegedly drinking at a bachelorette party July 4th, 2011 at the Clevelander Hotel.

“They start dancing with them. They’re having a good time,” prosecutor Eileen Keeley told the jury in her opening statement. “These police officers, they’re not acting like police officers, they’re becoming part of the entertainment.”

Maid of honor, Camille Hippensteel, testified Monday that she thought the officers, buffed out in form-fitting uniforms, could have been sent as party favors for the bridal party.

“Their uniforms were so tight that they almost looked like strippers,” Hippensteel said.

She testified that it did not occur to her that Kuilan might be impaired, but she didn’t think to look for any sign of impairment.

Keeley said Kuilan then took the 28-year bride-to-be Adalee Martin for for a joyride on a police ATV.

“They are flying down the sand and all of the sudden it’s like he hit a wall,” said Keeley.

That “wall” turned out to be Luis Almonte and Kitzie Nicanor who were out for a walk on the beach, according to authorities.

Almonte’s leg was broken. Nicanor also suffered a broken leg, was knocked unconscious and had to have several surgeries. Martin flew off the bike into the sand. Kuilan radioed for help but allegedly never mentioned the accident.

One of the first witnesses on the stand was Martin. She told the jury that she had a shot of tequila that night and a couple of Corona beers at the Clevelander. Martin also said she would not have gotten on the ATV if she suspected Kuilan had been drinking.

“I trusted him because he was a police officer, so I felt safe,” said Martin.

She added “We were going pretty fast. That’s like when I felt like we hit a brick wall.”

Traffic homicide investigator Kerry Humphrey showed jurors photos of the heavily damaged police ATV. Prosecutors believe the photos help prove Kuilan was traveling at a high rate of speed, bolstering their charge that he was driving recklessly. Humphrey said the ATV was going so fast that it flipped over on impact.

Investigators waited several hours before drawing Kuilan’s blood for testing.

Keeley told jurors Kuilan’s “face is flushed, his eye are red” and his “blood results were .088 five hours later he is still over the legal limit.

Kuilan’s defense attorney, Evan Hoffman, admitted that the ATV joyride was “probably not the smartest thing.”

“We agree that there were actions made that were not the best judgement,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said while Kuilan’s actions and the accident were a civil matter and did not belong in a criminal court. They also plan to challenge the results of the DUI test. Hoffman said no one will testify at the trial that they ever saw Kuilan or his partner actually drinking at the bachlorette party.

Kuilan is charged with two counts of driving under the influence and causing serious bodily harm, and two counts of reckless driving. He faces a maximum prison sentence of ten 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.