Long, cold silences and stonewalling basic attempts for information have been the biggest keynotes in the “Justice for John Geer” case centered in Fairfax County, Virginia. A special grand jury has indicted the officer responsible in Geer’s death on second-degree murder charges. The department has issued a statement (below).
You may recall that he was the law abiding father of two who was ordered by police to keep his hands at the top of his front doorway post. They were there for a mild, non-violent domestic dispute on the morning of August 29, 2013, until the situation escalated into what appeared to be a stand-off. He had his hands up – unarmed – for 42 minutes during discussions when a previously unidentified officer inexplicably shot him through the chest. The officer had claimed that Geer quickly reached for his waistband, but witness accounts including other officers later countered that claim. His family had seen it unfold in horror and begged the department for medical help to no avail. Department reports indicated that he died on the spot. A destructive raid ensued, possessions were taken and there were few answers after that.
That is until the family pursued it in court. Not only that, but an activist group called “Justice for John Geer” worked tirelessly to peacefully press the department and raise awareness on this unjustified shooting, the lack of accountability, and lack of answers. They inspired support and other peaceful demonstrations. To top it off, a Washington Post writer named Tom Jackman has written an account of every detail of the case since the beginning. Jackman showcased the all the unanswered questions. Had none of these people acted, the case would most likely remain conveniently buried.
Thanks to the court case started by Geer’s long-time partner Maura Harrington and her attorney, Fairfax county paid the family a settlement of $2.9 million dollars from two of its insurance funds. The largest in Virginia’s history for officer-involved shooting. Of course it doesn’t replace John and it was made utterly clear that the settlement was not an admission of guilt or liability from the department and county.
During the time after the incident, Adam Torres, the officer now known to have shot Geer had been placed on desk duty. He had been asked by detectives if he had fired by accident, as by most accounts Geers hands had slowly lowered to ear length, at the most. Torres adhered to the “hands quickly at the waistband” story and said,
It was not accidental. No, it was justified. I have no doubt about that at all. I don’t feel sorry for shooting the guy at all.
Last December, a Fairfax county judge ordered the release of nearly all information regarding the case, including videos and the responsible officer’s name. A commission began investigating. On July 31st, Torres was fired. Yesterday, he was indicted by a special grand jury – the first indictment in the county for an on-duty shooting.
Yesterday, the department issued this statement and was filmed at a press conference:
UPDATE: This evening, Monday, August 17, former Fairfax County police officer, Mr. Adam Torres, was charged with the second-degree murder of John Geer, following an indictment returned by a special grand jury convened in the case. Mr. Torres turned himself in to detectives from the Major Crimes Division this evening and was subsequently brought to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held on no bond.
The Fairfax County Police Chief, Colonel Ed Roessler, discussed the case with media at the Fairfax County Government Center this evening, along with Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Sharon Bulova. Both Chief Roessler and Chairman Bulova expressed respect for the criminal justice process.
We have great respect for the Special Grand Jury process, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County, and the criminal justice system as this matter proceeds. The loss of life is tragic for all. We express our sympathy to the Geer family, support to our great community and the men and women of the Fairfax County Police Department.
The officer is expected to be arraigned in Circuit Court as soon as Wednesday.
Officers are rarely indicted. A recent report indicates that only 54 officers have faced charges out of thousands of fatal shootings.
Is there finally justice for John Geer?
Amanda Warren writes for Activist Post – See here recent articles HERE
I’m glad the justice is finally serve for John Geer and his family, it’s over due for all those police departments who has been committed many heinous crimes and cover ups, that need to be clean out those corruptions.
about time! put that cop in gen pop and let them dish out justice
Good, another dirty-filthy Police Pig Puke is off the streets!
Don’t forget the KY Jelly Adam!!
Yes, I believe police officers should be held accountable and to a very high standard.
What I seem to see is police officers are held to a higher standard in some jurisdictions than in others.
We have, as a society, lowered our standards in many places. You can’t expect to get the best when the people you hire can’t support their families on what they are getting paid. The higher the pay, the higher the training, the better the background check, the better the officer.
BS. The city where i live have some of the highest paid cops in the State. Extortion, rape, murder, beatings, theft, drunk cops driving, cops playing cowboy and running over people going to calls that are not emergencies. these are some of the things done by the overpaid cops in my city, not every now and then, but regularly.
Yep, every where. In Mesa, Az. A cop was going 80mph in a residential street for a non emergency call and ran over a kid on a bike and killed him. The officers who showed up to write the report purposefully messed up the information in the police report so he could get off, who got charged for doing that? No one. Not many people see cops as the good guys anymore.
here is the problem…and it’s not money. Appointed chief’s of police departments, elected county sheriff’s both, do not believe other wise than what is currently happening to our neighbor hood citizens….if they did, the murder, beatings, false arrests, and general intimidation would not be happening in your or my neighborhood…..BUT…it is happening….it is happening just as they believe it should…….Nothing will change until that belief changes…
Many are secret KKK members especially in the south.
doesn’t surprise me…! I live in the North, US….I’ll bet that in the south, the KKK is yet alive and kicking…just under the surface, mostly….since it has fallen out of grace….during the last many decades….I haven’t researched any recent writings of this organization (or like minded)..have you? Hate is pure evil…ingrained from one generation to the next….
I lived in Pa. for 30 years and Texas for 30 years.
No contest. Hands down Texas.
People in the south, in general, are sooo much friendlier and amenable. Despite the M$M endless propaganda.
I think a lot of it is the weather!
Albert Pike (KKK) has his own monument in Washington DC.
Police have a code of silence…they will lie under oath in court, perjure themselves! Proscecutors are to blame as well, they know very well in many cases the “person” arrested was not the person who did the crime…its get em quick, and let the court sort it out.
I’m an Ex-Cop & Fed and a Whistle-blower. There is no reason or lawful excuse to keep a person’s hands in the UP position for more than is necessary to cuff the person up. Over 10-15 minutes is excessive depending on the age of the person. I have NEVER had to order a person to keep his hands up for longer than a few moments long enough to get additional help or to cuff someone up.(I have over 25 years experience and training and It does NOT make sense for this victim to have had his hands up for over 45 minutes long. WHY? It is not clear as to what his waist band looked like or if he ever had a weapon or not.Eventually ANY person will get Tired and lower his arms. Just try keeping your arms up for more than 10-15 minutes and imagine over 45 minutes. The Judge should make the Police defendant(s) keep his arms in the up position for the exact amount of time the Police did on that incident. The justification for the shooting seems very flimsy or worse. I think the indictment is justified for an unlawful killing. Also, why didn’t the officers have access to a Taser? Chemical mace? Baton?, etc… rather than “Deadly Force”??? Cops are sometimes the worst “communicators” cause they “think” or assume People/suspects can read their minds or they don;t know what orders to give when they should. There are too many wrongful death shootings going on now.P.S. Cops in the Virginia areas have Bad reputations for being corrupt.
I used to support peace officers. Law enFORCEment, is the enemy of The People. If the corrupt courts do not put a stop to the rape, murder and mayhem by cop, the people will sooner or later. Perhaps that is what the evil minions in DC want. They seem to be trying everything they can to cause the American people to revolt.
Law enforcement are no longer community police officers, they are all militarized…we the people are now probable terrorists. LEAP…retired law enforcement officers are speaking the truth about war on drugs, etc, etc..google them.
What do you mean ‘now’? The defacto government made the people the ‘enemy’ of the state with the ‘Emergency Banking Relief Act of March 9, 1933’ Modern cops exist as commercial code enforcers, revenue raisers for the corporate town/city etc. They give you a ‘summons’ for the ‘person'(strawman) to appear in court to be exacted and extorted, which is the ‘business’ of the court.
the proper way to carry out a Peace officers work is for the officer to carry no firearms..no tazers only a baton for personal protection..All a fire arm does is either get an officer killed or a citizen killed or injured…in the long run, incident after incident of such…does not add to the Peace of a community…..I have been there as an Army MP during Nam, in country 1969 as a draftee….US56639487
A baton as protection from guns in the hands of criminals? I bet you want the law abiding citizens to also not have guns. Make it real easy for thugs to rob and kill when no one has guns. Even if every gun in existence was destroyed the general public would still be in danger of getting stabbed or beaten with a baseball bat or something.
I never said any of the kind of what you are chiding me about. People are the problem. Not guns…And no removing guns from the earth won’t change people….I am not for taking guns away. Never have been. Never will be…..You don’t know up from down about police work. Your comment says as much to me….
Not sure if anyone else will bother to chime in.. Your first sentence says Peace officers should only carry a baton. If all the police had to do was show up to perfectly safe calls then I’d agree. Fact is they show up to so many situations that require them to be armed and ready. The problem isn’t the guns it’s the people using them!
peace officers would have fire arms in their vehicles…to use when needed….that’s what I am saying. Violence begets more violence. been that way forever. same within a local community…..police departments that up the violence do so to their own detriment and to the detriment of the whole community…..the training of a fine peace officer does not begin by showing that person how to kill people…It begins by showing the officer HOW to keep the Peace without using violence….I’m not going any farther with this…..it’s up to you to learn. I have already learned it…..by doing, by being…..an Army M P….in Nam 1969…trained by the us army at Ft Gordon Georgia…and would have been court martialed for behaving the way that American Police behave all across our land..today!..and you are accusing me of wanting guns vanished……….HA
like I said, you don’t know up from down…..about police work.
The very basis of which, is attitude!
Arm the people. Disarm the lawdogs!
It’s sad there are so few cops left like you. I feel it’s the end of a generation of LEO that were true alpha dogs upholding citizens rights yet risking their lives in the process. All the best to you!
How unusual. Usually cops are allowed to rape, murder rob and beat anyone they want to, (unless they mess up and do it to someone who’s family has money or political pull). If there had been no witnesses and people who are more than fed up with being party favors of steroid using insane bullies, nothing would have happened in this case.
14 cops have been indicted for murder in this country…keep up the pressure on these killer cops. The good cops KNOW who the bad ones are in their ranks, if they wont out them…before they kill…..all cops get a bad rap.
The Romans used a net, throw a net over the person and continue to talk to them. NO, the cops are paid to kill and that is what all the equipment does it kills.
“I don’t feel sorry for shooting the guy at all.”
SOCIOPATH
Finally, there are real live ‘good cops’ that stepped up and testified as witnesses against this trigger happy piece of garbage with a badge. My hat is off to these officers and hope more of them start coming forward each time another atrocity happens. These cops have to start policing themselves or the public will eventually do it for them. The danger at that point is the public won’t be asking if they were good cops but will be swept away violently with the rest of the trash.
What these cops are doing is TERRORISM plain and simple. They are trying to terrorize the Americans into submission. All they are getting is more and more wide awake and very angry Americans. Spirit of 76!
This is confusing “Justice” with “Revenge”.
Justice would be preventing this from ever happening again, but it will continue, so we must seek revenge on those actors doing these murderous acts. Spending time in jail does not bring back the dead or make the public feel safe from murderous so called cops.