We called the Fairfax County police for help....the punks they sent threatened to arrest us. One cop tells my wife that if she keeps crying he'll arrest her and the other cop, La Forge or something, says to me "You call the police this what you get" I said that was wrong and he said "Go ahead, say more fuck'n thing prick" and I thought "Well if you insist".
Fairfax County identifies police officer Adam Torres as shooter of John Geer
By
Tom Jackman, Washington Post.
Sixteen
months after a Fairfax County police officer shot and killed a Springfield man,
officials for the first time Monday identified the officer as Adam D. Torres,
and made a new claim that the man had a loaded gun nearby and threatened to use
it.
The
longtime partner of John B. Geer, 46, had called police on Aug. 29, 2013, after
she told him she was leaving him and he responded by throwing her belongings
out of their house. In a statement released Monday, police said they were told
Geer not only had “multiple firearms” inside the townhouse but also that he was
“displaying a firearm that he threatened to use against the police.” That
statement contradicts previous witness accounts that Geer was unarmed when he
was shot.
The
attorney for Geer’s family, Michael Lieberman, strongly disputed the claim that
Geer displayed a gun and threatened to use it. “I’ve never heard of him
displaying any firearm at the police and I have no reason to believe he did,”
Lieberman said. Don Geer, John Geer’s father, said he was told by police that
his son was unarmed when he was shot.
Fairfax
police declined to answer any questions about the statement or clarify when
Geer displayed or threatened to use a gun. The handgun found inside the house
was loaded and holstered, the statement said.
Fairfax
officials did not notify Geer’s family or their lawyers that they planned to
release the officer’s name and new details about the case, Lieberman said.
The
statement also said that Geer refused officers’ requests to stay outside and
speak with them, and that “a trained negotiator” tried to resolve the
confrontation. But when Geer began lowering his hands from the top of his storm
door after more than 30 minutes of discussions, “PFC Adam Torres fired a single
shot that struck Geer.”
The
statement said “Geer did not answer the officers’ calls and offers of medical
aid.” Police waited for an hour — and for the arrival of a SWAT team and a
hostage rescue vehicle — before entering Geer’s home, where he was found dead.
Fairfax
said that “a loaded, holstered firearm was recovered on the landing of the
stairs to Geer’s left where he had stood in the doorway and seven more firearms
were recovered inside the home.”
Lieberman
said he had never heard of a negotiator speaking with Geer and that the seven
other guns in the house were in a locked safe.
Police
said Torres is an eight-year veteran of the department and assigned as a patrol
officer to the West Springfield district, but they declined to release his age.
He has been on administrative duties since the shooting.
Torres
could not be immediately located for comment. He has not been involved
previously in any fatal police shootings in Fairfax.
The
investigation of whether Torres should be charged with a crime was handled for
four months by the Fairfax commonwealth’s attorney, who transferred the case in
January 2014 to the U.S. attorney in Alexandria. Federal officials are
considering whether to file civil rights charges in the case, but Fairfax Board
Chairman Sharon Bulova said Monday she had no indication when that might be.
County
officials said they felt the information release was appropriate after a
Fairfax judge in the Geer family’s civil lawsuit against Fairfax last month
ordered a vast amount of pretrial discovery to be released to the family.
Before that, the police had refused to disclose Torres’s name or anything about
him, or any details about why Torres might have shot Geer.
Bulova
said county officials were frustrated by their inability to release
information, but abided by policies that had worked in previous police
shootings: to wait for a ruling on whether a crime was committed before discussing
a case. But she said after 16 months, and the ruling in the civil case by
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows, she met Monday with Fairfax
Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. and both felt the time was right to release
the information.
Bulova
said the timing was unrelated to a planned protest outside the Fairfax police
headquarters Thursday by a group called Justice for John Geer, which recently
formed to demand information about the shooting.
“This
has just been an unusual situation,” Bulova said. “It was bumped up to the
federal level for, I think, multiple reasons. And we were sort of left in
limbo.”
Bulova
said she did not know when the county’s lawyers would comply with Bellows’s
order to release documents and other evidence to Geer’s family, but she said
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh did not object to the
release. Bellows gave the county 30 days to provide the information.
Lieberman
also said he did not know how or when he would receive the information. He said
Monday’s statement appeared to be “damage control. To try to show they have
some sense of transparency. A little late, I would say.”
Tom
Jackman is a native of Northern Virginia and has been covering the region for
The Post since 1998.
I don’t believe this police report and I do believe that in the end, the cops will get away with this one too.
No one on the scene saw or heard John Geer
speaking to a neither “trained negotiator” nor have the cops provided any photographs or film
recording the trained negotiator, or provide the negotiators name.
Where are the photographs of the supposed holstered
gun in the hallway? Are their two signed reports from two different cops
declaring that they both found the gun in the hallway?
The
police report leaves out the fact that the cops didn’t enter the property for
almost an hour after they shot Geer and as a result, he bled to death and that
the other weapons found on the property where under lock and key.
In the end, none of that matters.
They’ll get away with this one too and nothing will change.
Statement from Fairfax County Police:
The Fairfax
County Police Department reports that the Circuit Court of Fairfax County has
determined that the department may release some information pertaining to the
August 29, 2013, officer-involved shooting of John Geer, even while the
investigations into the incident remain ongoing.
On August 29,
2013, Fairfax County police officers responded to a call by Geer's domestic
partner reporting a domestic dispute with Geer. Officers spoke to the
complainant and Geer outside their residence. Geer was reported as having
multiple firearms inside the home, displaying a firearm that he threatened to
use against the police, and refused the officers' requests that he remain
outside and speak to them. Officers, including a trained negotiator, attempted
to peaceably resolve the situation. They spoke with Geer for more than thirty
minutes as he stood in the doorway of his home.
When Geer began
lowering his hands at one point during the negotiations, PFC Adam Torres fired
a single shot that struck Geer. Geer immediately retreated inside the home and
shut the front door. Geer did not answer the officers' calls and offers of
medical aid. A SWAT Team and a hostage rescue vehicle were used to effectuate a
safe approach and entry into the home. Once inside, the SWAT officers, who were
accompanied by a tactical paramedic, found Geer deceased. A loaded, holstered
firearm was recovered on the landing of the stairs to Geer's left where he had
stood in the doorway and seven more firearms were recovered inside the home.
This matter is
the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice and an
internal, administrative investigation by the Police Department. Officer
Torres, who has been employed by the Police Department for eight years, was
placed on administrative duty following the incident and remains so pending the
outcome of the criminal and administrative investigations.
Chairman Sharon Bulova's Statement
Chairman Sharon Bulova's Statement
On behalf of the
Board of Supervisors, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family
and friends of John Geer. Any untimely death is a tragedy, and our Board
continues to be extremely frustrated and disappointed with the amount of time
it has taken for this investigation to come to a resolution.
I am pleased
that the information and details we are releasing today are now available to
the public. This breaks the logjam that has prevented the sharing of
information that the public and the Geer family have been requesting. In the
Geer case, there are three separate investigations and a civil lawsuit. The
County has policies in place to avoid interfering with and jeopardizing open
criminal and civil cases. The court order resolves staff concerns regarding
what could and could not be shared.
This is an
unusual and complicated situation for Fairfax County. Our current policies
regarding a police involved shooting do not address the unique situation where
the Commonwealth's Attorney refers a case to federal investigators. Our Board
will thoroughly review these policies to make sure we are consistently
responsive and transparent with regard to police incidents and public safety
concerns.
In Fairfax
County, we have worked very hard to build trust within the community,
especially with the Police Department, and our policies must reflect this.
Statistically,
Fairfax County is the safest jurisdiction of its size in the United States and
I am very proud of our public safety professionals who help to make that
happen. In Fairfax County, our police officers enjoy a strong and positive
partnership with the community they serve and protect. Each of our eight Police
Districts has a Citizens Advisory Committee that meets regularly. At these
meetings, residents of the area have the opportunity to learn of safety issues
in their community and share information that is of concern to them.
Additionally, the County's Neighborhood Watch programs operate with strong
support from and collaboration with our Police Department. All of our Fairfax
County high schools and middle schools benefit from specifically trained School
Resource Officers.
As Chairman, I
have made it a point to ride throughout the County with the Police Chief on
National Night Out and I can tell you that the community's trust and appreciation
of our police officers is enormous. Most recently, Chief Roessler established a
Police Department Diversity Council, consisting of representatives of our
County's minority populations, to help ensure law enforcement's sensitivity to
the many cultural differences that exist within our community.
The unique
positive relationship that our Police Department has established with the
community they serve is significant. This has helped to foster trust of public
safety and is a major factor in keeping our crime rate extraordinarily low.
While this has been a unique and complicated set of circumstances, our Board is
committed to making sure Fairfax County policies will not result in delays
should similar situations arise in the future.
Fairfax County
has provided all information and materials requested in order for these
investigations to move forward. We join with the Geer family and the community
in urging a fair and timely resolution.