The family of a McLean man who was shot and killed by the police in 2022 has sued the Fairfax County Police Department for wrongful death.
The lawsuit was filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday (June 12), the Washington Post reported. It alleges that Police First Class Officer Edward George “had no reasonable ground” to believe he or anyone else was in immediate danger when he shot 26-year-old Jasper Aaron Lynch multiple times at the Lynch family home on July 7, 2022.
The complaint also lists Police Chief Kevin Davis and five other officers as defendants, including Pak Kyoung and Nicholas Kirsch, who have been identified as the two other officers present at the shooting. The roles of three officers identified only as John Does aren’t detailed.
Brought by Lynch’s father, Patrick Lynch, the lawsuit argues that the FCPD’s treatment of Lynch, who was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time, amounted to negligence and seeks $10 million each in compensatory and punitive damages.
“As a direct result of Defendants’ acts and/or omissions, Aaron experienced [severe] pain and suffering, mental and emotional anguish, and other injuries and damages before his untimely, painful, and preventable death caused by Defendants,” the complaint says, adding that his family continues “to suffer, extreme mental anguish, emotional pain, and grief” as a result of his death.
As detailed in the complaint and previous police statements, officers were called to the Lynch home on Arbor Lane twice during the night of July 7, 2022 by family members sought mental health assistance.
After a family friend called 911 the first time, Lynch’s mother contacted the FCPD’s non-emergency line to explain that her son “had no history of violence” and that there were no weapons on the house, stating that the crisis he was experiencing may stem “from the death of a loved one,” according to the complaint.
During that first response, officers from the McLean district station were accompanied by a co-responder team, which paired an officer with a clinician from the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board to assist with behavioral health-related 911 calls.
The police left when Lynch couldn’t be located, but his sister and her boyfriend called 911 again around 8:30 p.m., reporting that he had returned to the house and was throwing and breaking objects.
George, Kyoung and Kirsch were dispatched without a co-responder team. In a press conference held on Aug. 4, 2022 to release body camera footage, Davis said the mental health clinician was busy with paperwork. At the time, the FCPD had just one clinician for its then-new co-responder program, which now has four teams.
When the officers entered the home, they found Lynch in the foyer with a wine bottle and a wooden mask that he threw. Kyong and Kirsch deployed their tasers as Lynch began approaching where they stood by the front door, carrying the bottle that was then dropped, according to an incident report by the Fairfax County Office of the Independent Police Auditor (OIPA).
George fired his handgun four times, hitting Lynch in the thighs and hip with three of them, the complaint alleges.
From there, accounts differ. The OIPA, which reviewed the police investigation, says Lynch “collided” with one of the other officers, causing them both to fall, and that he was “on top of” the officer when George fired a fifth and final shot less than two inches away from Lynch.
The lawsuit, however, says Lynch was “tackled” and “pinned down by Officer Kirsch” when George fired “a fifth and final shot into his neck at nearly point-blank range.” Lynch died at the scene.
Following FCPD investigations of the shooting, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano declined to pursue criminal charges against the officers involved, a decision that wasn’t announced until this past April.
Richard Schott, the county’s independent police auditor, affirmed the FCPD’s findings that the shooting didn’t violate the law, but his report noted that George violated department policies by not turning on his body camera during the first call and not carrying his taser during either response. The complaint cites George leaving his taser in his vehicle as an example of his alleged breach of duty “to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances.”
“Fairfax County cannot comment on pending litigation,” a county spokesperson told FFXnow.
The law firm representing Lynch’s family in the lawsuit declined to comment when contacted by FFXnow, but their attorney, Patrick Regan, told the Washington Post that they sued “because so far the police department has refused to take responsibility for senselessly killing this young man.”
Lynch was one of six people shot by FCPD officers in 2022, a spike after nine such incidents occurred in 2014 through 2021, per the department’s data. There were two police shootings last year — both of them fatal — and none so far in 2024.
Former Fairfax County police Sgt. Wesley Shifflett was indicted by a grand jury in October for fatally shooting Timothy Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22, 2023. According to the Post, a trial in that case is expected to start in September.
