John Geer, standing in his doorway, minutes before he was shot by a Fairfax County Police officer. Photo courtesy of Michael Lieberman
Out of 128 requests for the production of documents made by the Geer family lawyer Michael Lieberman, all but two have been denied by Fairfax County.
In September, Lieberman filed a $12 million lawsuit against the county for the wrongful death of Springfield resident John Geer. Geer died in August 2013 after being shot by Fairfax County Police.
The names of the officers involved in the shooting have yet to be released, as well as any explanation of why Geer was shot, or why he didn’t receive first aid immediately.
“Their intentions are very clear,” Lieberman said of the County, “to not give any information until the court orders them to do so, do nothing voluntarily. This is their policy, to stonewall.”
A spokesman from Fairfax County declined to comment.
Lieberman said the explanation he’s received for the continued blockade is that a criminal investigation is currently underway.
Fairfax County Chief of Police Edwin Roessler said in a September interview that the case was being handled by the Department of Justice. However, U.S. Attorney Dana Boente’s office has continued to decline to comment.
“We have eyewitnesses to the incident who’ve never been called in front of a grand jury,” said Lieberman. “How do we know they’re not even done? After 15 months, I think you give up your right to withhold this type of information. We have a right to know, just like in Ferguson, just like everywhere else.”
Lieberman is expecting to have a court hearing before a judge in the next two to three weeks.
“Hopefully we’ll get some answer sometimes soon,” he said. “We pay for this, these folks are responsible to us. Where is the Board of Supervisors on all this? Is this the way they want their county run? They won’t adopt a citizen review board, that’s clear, so how are you going to be answerable?”