Documents and Incidents Tagged "Fairfax County Police"

On May 11, 2023, at 4:06 p.m., 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne passed a license plate reader which alerted officers to a stolen U-Haul in the area. An officer saw the U-Haul in the 6300 block of Richmond Highway, in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. Lemagne pulled the U-Haul into the gas station parking lot, exited the vehicle then walked away. The officer can be seen on surveillance footage speaking with Lemagne then the two walk towards the officer’s cruiser. The officer told Lemagne he was going to be detained for driving the stolen U-Haul. Lemagne then fought the officer. He grabbed the officer’s firearm and tried to remove it from the holster. Two other officers arrived on scene. One officer discharged his firearm as Lemagne remained on top of the officer inside the cruiser. A second officer arrived on scene and attempted to remove Lemagne off the officer. He was able to pull Lemagne off the officer and out of the cruiser. The officer then discharged his firearm. Lemagne was struck in the upper body. He was declared deceased at the scene.

Jeffrey Payne, 41, of Falls Church was shot by undercover officer Sergeant Joshua Moser during a traffic stop. FCPD claimed no body camera footage was captured. Payne was unarmed. He was taken to the hospital and survived.

Nearly eight months after Wesley G. Shifflett and James F. Sadler chased, harassed, cornered, and then murdered Timothy "Tim" McCree Johnson, a 37-year-old Black man leaving the mall, a special grand jury in Fairfax County indicted one of them for felony crimes.

Shifflett, a Fairfax County Police officer since 2016 up until April of 2023, will face a class-five felony charge of involuntary manslaughter and a second charge citing reckless handling of firearms. The special grand jury was the second to convene to consider prosecuting the February 22, 2023 murder of Mr. Johnson. The first grand jury failed to issue a true bill. Sadler, the other Fairfax County officer who shot Tim Johnson and was reportedly not in uniform at the time of the killing, was never charged with a crime.

On March 8, 2021, Lamonta Gladney field a civil rights lawsuit against Tyler Timberlake and Kyle M. Schaefer.

As Gladney's lawyer alleged, he "suffered serious physical injury caused by Timberlake’s unlawful taser attack. Additionally, Gladney suffered and continues to suffer mental anguish, humiliation, and psychological pain...

The Defendant’s misconduct, done under the color of state law, as described below, was recklessly and deliberately indifferent to the life, safety, bodily integrity, well-being, liberty, and civil rights of Lamonta Gladney.”

Gladney presented three claims for relief. The first claim alleged deprivation of civil rights and violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; the second with police brutality and excessive force; and the third with false arrest.

The case concluded in June 2022. Officer Timberlake and Fairfax County admitted no wrongdoing, but they agreed to pay Gladney a $150,000 settlement.

Trooper Edward George shot and killed 26-year-old Aaron Lynch (or Jasper Aaron Lynch), a trans man, who was experiencing a mental health crisis in his own home. The shooting and its particularities (see links below) was widely considered a deep injustice and egregious act by law enforcement.

"'The officers attempted to de-escalate the situation with verbal commands inside the foyer of the home,” the FCPD said. “Lynch [allegedly] threw the mask at an officer and [allegedly] began to swing the bottle in a striking motion. Two officers attempted to utilize their Electronic Control Weapons. Lynch ran toward officers while swinging the bottle. One officer discharged his firearm, striking Lynch four times.'" (FFX Now, 07/2022)

The Fairfax County Police Department publicly announced Officer Wesley Shifflett was to be fired after body camera footage of Shifflett killing of Timothy McCree Johnson was released on Thursday, March 23, 2023. The termination was made official on April 14, 2023.

Off-duty officer arrested after DUI crash

"On February 22, 2023, a 37-year-old unarmed Black man, Timothy McCree Johnson, was shot and killed by two Fairfax County police officers (Shifflett and Sadler). In FCPD public statements, officers justified killing Timothy Johnson by alleging that Johnson had stolen sunglasses from a Tysons Corner department store. Mr. Johnson was chased through a parking garage, a parking lot, and into a wooded area where he was killed by a bullet wound to the chest."

Both officers shot Johnson, hitting him in the chest. He died. Johnson was a 37-year-old Black man. The public was allowed to view body camera footage of Johnson's killing.