Fairfax County

Park Police officers who shot and killed Bijan Ghaisar return to work

The officers, Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, were cleared of wrongdoing years after opening fire on 25-year-old Ghaisar on the George Washington Memorial Parkway

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The mother of Bijan Ghaisar, who was shot by U.S. Park Police officers in Northern Virginia nearly seven years ago, speaks out after those officers were cleared. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.

The two U.S. Park Police officers who shot and killed Bijan Ghaisar are back on the job after federal investigators cleared them in the case.

Ghaisar died after the shooting on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in 2017. He was 25.

The officers, Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, had been on paid leave since they were indicted for manslaughter in the case in 2020. Before that, they were on paid administrative duty.

Amaya and Vinyard were reinstated on Dec. 16, according to a recent court filing requesting their lawsuit against the Department of Interior be dismissed.

“I am not surprised at all,” Kelly Ghaisar, Bijan Ghaisar’s mother, told The Washington Post. “[I] never expected any kind of decent outcome from the Park Police. Their lack of transparency. The level of coverup from the bottom to leadership was apparent that they never meant to do what was safe and beneficial to the public. They looked after their own. Not the people they serve.”

In November, the U.S. Department of Interior found that Vinyard and Amaya did not violate Park Police policies when they opened fire after chasing Ghaisar on the parkway.

On the night of Nov. 17, 2017, police responded to a reported hit-and-run on the parkway at Slaters Lane in Alexandria. Ghaisar's SUV had been rear-ended when he suddenly stopped in the left lane, the driver and passenger from the striking vehicle told police.

The inspector general's summary said in part that the preponderance of the evidence showed the officers reasonably believed that Ghaisar had committed a felony by leaving the scene of an accident.

Ghaisar presented a clear and immediate threat to public safety if not immediately apprehended, the inspector general's summary also said.

The only policy violation that did occur, according to the report, was when one of the officers used his gun to strike a window on Ghaisar's SUV.

Chase from GW Parkway captured on dashcam video

Video of the chase — captured by a Fairfax County police dashboard camera — showed the pursuit starting on the GW Parkway, then continuing into a residential neighborhood. It showed Ghaisar's SUV stopping twice during the chase, with officers approaching the car with guns drawn. Both times, Ghaisar drove off.

At the third and final stop, the officers again approached with guns drawn, and Amaya stood in front of the driver’s door. When the SUV started to move, Amaya opened fire. Seconds later, when the car began moving again, both Amaya and Vinyard fired multiple shots.

Ghaisar was struck 10 times and then crashed his SUV.

He taken to a hospital in critical condition and died 10 days later.

Years of legal wrangling followed

Neither officer was ever convicted of a crime. Federal authorities declined to prosecute after a two-year FBI investigation. At that point, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano filed manslaughter charges in state court. That set off a tug-of-war between state and federal officials over who had jurisdiction to prosecute the case.

In October 2021, a federal judge tossed out the manslaughter charges brought by Descano’s office. The judge ruled that the officers were entitled to immunity and that their actions were proper under the circumstances.

The Ghaisar family has said the officers violated their own policies by chasing Ghaisar, who was unarmed when they opened fire. The family did receive a $5 million settlement from the government last year in a civil lawsuit alleging wrongful death.

"These officers should have never pursued Bijan,” Kelly Ghaisar previously said. “Although they saw Bijan was in distress — probably frightened to death — they did not communicate that with their superior. They pulled Bijan over and drew a weapon, banged on his window, and kicked his tire. They then hunted him and pulled him over and shot him multiple times."

"Shooting someone that's sitting in the car, and he says he made the X gesture, probably like, 'Please don't shoot me. Don't shoot my face.' The bullet that went through his wrist. We know because he was trying to protect himself. How is he a threat to you?" she said.

The two officers were told more than two years ago that they would be fired, but no action was taken. They filed a lawsuit against the Department of Interior, seeking a final decision on their employment status.

With prior reporting by the Associated Press

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