What happened to Bijan Ghaisar?

Tragedy in Fairfax County. Bijan Ghaisar was a McLean-based accountant and graduate of Langley High School. On Nov 17, 2017 he was driving southbound on the George Washington Parkway north of Old Town, Alexandria. His vehicle was rear-ended by an Uber driver and, for reasons nobody can understand, Ghaisar fled the scene in his Jeep. It was very strange that the victim of a rear-end collision would flee. However, things got much stranger from there.

Ghaisar’s Jeep was spotted on the GW Parkway by the U.S. Park Police and they attempted to pull Ghaisar over. Ghaisar pulled over, Park Police approached with guns drawn and Ghaisar inexplicably drove away. After a low-speed chase Ghaisar pulled over a second time, Park Police approached a second time and Ghaisar fled again. By this time Ghaisar had entered Fairfax County and a Fairfax County police cruiser (with his dash cam on) joined the pursuit. The third stop happened at the intersection of Fort Hunt Road and Alexandria Avenue. This stop seemed like it would be a repeat of the first two stops except that when Ghaisar started to pull away the Park Policemen fired nine shots into Ghaisar’s car hitting him four times in the head. He died 10 days later of his wounds. The video from the Fairfax County patrol car has been released. Warning: it is extremely graphic and terribly tragic. Readers should view this only after considering how it might affect them.

Investigations and avoiding conflicts of interest. In order to avoid conflicts of interest the FBI has been asked to investigate the killing and the D.C. prosecutors will bring charges if justified. While it’s admirable that the investigation and possible prosecution will he handled by parties at arm’s length to the law enforcement agencies involved, the investigators’ silence to date has been deafening. After more than seven months the Park Police officers involved have not been named, federal officials have refused to meet with local politicians and the DoJ has blocked the release of the 911 call related to this incident.

Protests and rallies. The cloak of silence surrounding the killing of Bijan Ghaisar has frayed the nerves of many in the Ft. Hunt community where Bhaisar was killed. Needless to say, his family is distraught. On May 19 family and friends of Ghaisar along with local politicians held a rally at the Department of Justice demanding answers. State Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, (one of the few General Assembly members who consistently make sense) said, “It is absolutely crazy that it has now been six months of silence from the authorities … when you watch the video, Bijan is not speeding or driving aggressively. Nothing in that video said that anybody should be shot four times in the head. This is happening way too much in this country and in Northern Virginia. It is so important that we get transparency on this.” Amen, Scott.

Update. As of this date, no information has been released by the authorities. Yesterday, FBI agents brought Ghaisar’s Jeep back to the scene of the killing. They were seen conducting ballistics analyses and using a metal detector in the nearby woods. Asked if agents were searching for something thrown from the Jeep they refused to answer. Why it took over seven months to go through this exercise is anybody’s guess. And let’s hope to heaven that they don’t claim to find a gun in woods near the scene of the killing more than seven months after it happened.

My take. Watching the dash cam video makes it hard to understand why the Park Police felt the need to fire nine times into Ghaisar’s Jeep. However, I will carefully read the final report before I pass judgement. Yet beyond this specific incident, this type of thing is happening far too often in the United States. President Trump would be well advised to launch a national task force to analyze these police killings and find way to combat this plague of violence. Something is wrong and something needs to be done.

— Don Rippert