In Fairfax, Va., a different, no-less-scary police shooting - Polidicks

[B]18 months ago John Geer was shot by police while standing at his front door with his hands raised[/B] [I]By Neil Macdonald, CBC News Posted: Feb 18, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 18, 2015 2:20 PM ET[/I] [t]http://i.cbc.ca/1.2960997.1424220147!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/john-geer-hands-up.jpg[/t] [I]John Geer, shown here in a still from a cellphone video standing at the front door of his townhouse in August 2013 as police responded to a complaint from his girlfriend. It was an almost 30-minute conversation in the doorway before one of the officers shot him dead. (CBS) [/I] [quote]White privilege didn't protect John Geer. That's not to say he didn't have it. As a middle-class kitchen designer living in the pleasant Washington suburb of Fairfax, Va., he had nothing whatsoever in common with the impoverished black men killed by police in Missouri and Brooklyn last year. Those deaths triggered riots, marches and demonstrations across America, and interventions by the White House. But Geer, pierced 18 months ago by a police bullet as he stood inside the screen door of his own home, his hands raised, begging not to be shot, simply disappeared into the emotional mixing bowl of American news and political priorities. That should not have happened. The killing of John Geer is probably the clearest and most compelling example of what amounts to police impunity in recent American history. [B]He committed no crime the day he was killed. Even the officer who shot him acknowledges that. There was no struggle. The details are not murky. But because no one was marching in the streets on behalf of John Geer, because he was absent from national headlines, the system was able to make his outrageous death go away by the simple expedient of doing nothing and refusing to discuss it.[/B] ... According to those official documents, the shooter — a cop with significant anger issues (he once screamed and cursed at prosecutors in open court) — is contradicted by four fellow officers and two civilian witnesses. That sort of rank-breaking is practically unheard of. And yet there has been no judicial action, and almost no public uproar. Most politicians have remained silent. Those who have marched against police shootings in the past have been largely uninterested. A protest at Fairfax police headquarters drew a couple of dozen people. Only the Washington Post has taken a serious interest in the case. But the killing of John Geer should frighten everyone. It is the best example yet that while police often target minorities disproportionately, their basic and overriding demand is total and unquestioning submission to their authority. Resist, however peacefully and even in your own home, and heaven help you, no matter what your skin colour. [/quote] [url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/in-fairfax-va-a-different-no-less-scary-police-shooting-1.2960995[/url]

No grey lines to argue here - strip the cop of his position and jail him for murder. It's an insult to police departments around the country that this officer hasn't been taken to court yet.

That officer should be in prison for lying about what happened most of all. Not just for fucking killing a man.

Sad that a canadian news source has more interest in this than our own

And nobody cares because he's just a usual white guy, no news story here right? I can't fucking stand this world sometimes. How could this not piss everybody off?

[QUOTE=LSK;47169460]And nobody cares because he's just a usual white guy, no news story here right? I can't fucking stand this world sometimes. How could this not piss everybody off?[/QUOTE] Being fair there's really no way to create appealing controversy over this. As someone incredibly pro-police in these situations, this is a very cut and dry case of the cop severely failing to do his duty and he should be punished as such. I don't think anyone's gonna deny that's the case :v:

[QUOTE=No Party Hats;47169515]Being fair there's really no way to create appealing controversy over this. As someone incredibly pro-police in these situations, this is a very cut and dry case of the cop severely failing to do his duty and he should be punished as such. I don't think anyone's gonna deny that's the case :v:[/QUOTE] Not controversy, but that he hasn't been prosecuted (yet) should be a huge scandal.

From the looks of things, this case has been elevated a couple of times and is now being handled federally. This caused some problems because normally information is released when charges are determined, but since charges weren't getting determined, the policy was prohibiting the release of info. The policy has, at least in part, been overridden, which has allowed the 11k pages of discovery out and things like that. It doesn't seem like corruption, just a really bad case of bureaucracy slowing shit down. Granted this is pretty damn unacceptable in terms of slowness.

I live a county away from Fairfax and it's sad that I've never heard of this. Really shows where our priorities are.

I live in an adjacent county to Fairfax, used to live in Fairfax for a number of years. I have heard about this for months on WTOP, I am surprised this is just now reaching the news. Basically the FCPD had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on law firms to prevent information about the case from being made public. That has obviously failed, and I'm very interested in seeing how the case progresses.

This hasnt flown under the radar, fyi. There was a post about this incident a few weeks ago. [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1449387[/url] Not only that, but media has reported on [URL="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/01/fairfax-county-police-release-interviews-11-000-pages-of-documents-on-police-killing-of-john-geer-11.html"]this[/URL] [URL="http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/2015/02/06/john-geer-shot-and-killed-by-police-officer-fairfax-county-family-wants-docs-released/22971341/"]case[/URL] [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/02/the-john-geer-case-new-details-from-the-police-file-raise-new-questions/"]multiple[/URL] [URL="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Family-of-John-Geer-Glad-More-Details-Unraveling-in-Fatal-Shooting-290601401.html"]times[/URL] and even released the case [URL="http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/2015/geer-case-materials.htm"]information files[/URL]

I don't understand why other people don't understand. Mainstream America backs the police- end of story. The cops are the security guards hired by mainstream Americans to keep the country from falling into anarchy. This is why you hear people say things like "I don't care if they spy on me, I have nothing to hide". They WANT the country on lock down and they WANT the cops to keep people in line. Those of us who are concerned about cops abusing their power, discrimination, and constitutional rights are the minority. Once you grasp that it all makes sense.

I live in Fairfax and I never heard of this until now, which shows how well they've managed to keep this under wraps thus far. Poor guy, though...

media only cares about the ratings who knew more shits are given to black people who were killed by white cops than white people who were killed by white cops because its a bigger outrage when a minority who's been discriminated for centuries is killed by a white person who's in a position of power this is pretty much one of the [B][I]VERY FEW[/I][/B] valid examples of reverse discrimination that happens

[QUOTE=LSK;47169460]And nobody cares because he's just a usual white guy, no news story here right? I can't fucking stand this world sometimes. How could this not piss everybody off?[/QUOTE] Precisely because it's a white cis male. I say cis, cause it's very relevant on the internet. I don't care. I hate the word. It's gross and reminds me of cyst. But I digress. There's also the fact that it's Virginia and Virginia blows dick and people have kind of been desensitized to Virginia crimes. [editline]19th February 2015[/editline] Srsly, fuck Virginia and North Carolina.

[QUOTE=zombays;47173224] Srsly, fuck Virginia and North Carolina.[/QUOTE] I lived in Fairfax county when this shooting happened and now live in Wake County where the 3 people were shot a few weeks ago. I need to go move to a desert or something.

[QUOTE=zombays;47173224]Virginia blows dick and people have kind of been desensitized to Virginia crimes. [editline]19th February 2015[/editline] Srsly, fuck Virginia and North Carolina.[/QUOTE] hey Virginia's not that bad :'( coming from someone who lives near Fairfax

[QUOTE=Code3Response;47171712]This hasnt flown under the radar, fyi. There was a post about this incident a few weeks ago. [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1449387[/url] Not only that, but media has reported on [URL="http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/01/fairfax-county-police-release-interviews-11-000-pages-of-documents-on-police-killing-of-john-geer-11.html"]this[/URL] [URL="http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/2015/02/06/john-geer-shot-and-killed-by-police-officer-fairfax-county-family-wants-docs-released/22971341/"]case[/URL] [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/02/02/the-john-geer-case-new-details-from-the-police-file-raise-new-questions/"]multiple[/URL] [URL="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Family-of-John-Geer-Glad-More-Details-Unraveling-in-Fatal-Shooting-290601401.html"]times[/URL] and even released the case [URL="http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/2015/geer-case-materials.htm"]information files[/URL][/QUOTE] Only quoting to point this out. It has been reported on numerous times, it's just clogged up in the system.

Really if your officers are that jumpy to a man who's hands are up and he is compliant there needs to be some serious reevaluation on the officers. If they can't even handle a cooperating man normally anything bigger is out of their league.

[QUOTE=Tetsmega;47176003]Really if your officers are that jumpy to a man who's hands are up and he is compliant there needs to be some serious reevaluation on the officers. If they can't even handle a cooperating man normally anything bigger is out of their league.[/QUOTE] It's not all officers, to be fair - it's one specific officer who's been shown time and time again to be aggressive and reactionary. He should've been kicked out of the force long before this happened.

[QUOTE=Dolton;47173258]I lived in Fairfax county when this shooting happened and now live in Wake County where the 3 people were shot a few weeks ago. I need to go move to a desert or something.[/QUOTE] Hey, if shootings tend to happen around you, don't go somewhere there aren't many other people besides you to get shot.