By Robert McCartney Columnist
Here’s what has happened in
Ferguson, Mo., in the two months since a police officer shot and killed Michael
Brown, an unarmed man:
■The
officer who pulled the trigger was identified and his record made public.
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■The
president expressed his condolences, and the U.S. attorney general paid a
visit.
■Protesters
staged repeated mass demonstrations.
Here’s what has happened in
Fairfax County in the nearly 14 months since a police officer shot and killed
John Geer, also unarmed, while he stood with arms raised in the doorway of his
Springfield townhouse:
■The
officer’s name has not been released, despite
abundant signs that the shooting was a mistake.
■The
County Board of Supervisors wrote a gently worded letter to the U.S. attorney
last month expressing concern about the unusually long delay in investigating
the incident.
■A
meeting of a local activist group unhappy about Geer’s case drew all of six
participants Tuesday evening at the Martha Washington Library in Fairfax’s
Alexandria neighborhood.
“All those people are bonding
together in Ferguson, [but] it’s very difficult to get people to do anything in
Fairfax,” said Mary Tracy, a member of the Virginia Citizens Coalition for
Police Accountability.
The differences between the two
shootings are critical, of course. Ferguson has long suffered from racial
tensions between police and the community. The killing there of a black
teenager by a white police officer rekindled grievances dating back
generations.
By contrast, the Fairfax public
shows more confidence in the police, despite several past shooting
controversies there. In addition, since Geer was white, the case doesn’t arouse
the same racial concerns.
Still, Fairfax mustn’t let
county police off the hook just because it’s politically convenient. The Geer
case should prompt both the public and elected officials to force the
department to come clean about what happened.
So far, the opposite has
occurred. Police have provided no explanation for the shooting, or why Geer was
left unattended for an hour afterward and apparently bled to death.
Geer’s girlfriend of 24 years,
Maura Harrington, said the death still weighs heavily on their two daughters,
ages 18 and 14.
“My girls have a right to know
why their father was shot, and who shot him,” she said. “It’s not fair to them
for this to keep dragging on. They need closure.”
The shooting occurred at the
end of a standoff in August 2013. Police had been summoned to the townhouse
because Geer, upset with Harrington, had tossed her belongings into the front
yard.
Supervisor Pat Herrity
(R-Springfield), who represents Geer’s district, said the circumstances of the
shooting were worrisome. “I don’t have all the evidence in front of me, but
from what I’ve seen, there are serious questions,” Herrity said.
Furthermore, mysterious obstacles
have slowed the investigation. Although few details have been forthcoming, a
major reason for the delay seems to be that the police have been reluctant to
provide necessary information.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s
Attorney Ray Morrogh spent five months on the inquiry before giving up and
handing it over to U.S. Attorney Dana Boente.
Morrogh told my colleague Tom
Jackman one of his problems “concerns some information, and I just can’t get
it.”
That apparently referred to a
refusal by police to hand over personnel files for the officer involved in the
case.
Now Boente has had the case for
even longer than Morrogh. It’s reasonable to assume he might be having some of
the same problems that Morrogh did.
Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D) told me Wednesday that the board has
urged the police to cooperate, while respecting the rights of an officer who
might face charges.
“We’ve strongly indicated that
we want our police to do everything they can to move things along,” Bulova said.
“It’s important that we also do so within the context of a federal
investigation that could end up going to trial.”
Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr.
did not comment for this column. Previously, he said the department would not
identify the officer who shot Geer because the policy was to wait until a
criminal investigation is complete.
Nicholas Beltrante, executive
director of the citizens coalition for police accountability, has his own
theory about what’s going on.
“They’re stonewalling,”
Beltrante said. “They’re allowing time to pass so the citizens of Fairfax
County will forget about the matter.”
For the Geer family and the
general public, that’s one outcome that shouldn’t be acceptable.
I discuss local issues Friday
at 8:50 a.m. on WAMU (88.5 FM). For previous columns, go to
washingtonpost.com/mccartney.
