Family Of Park Police Shooting Victim Files FOIA Requests

The family of Bijan Ghaisar, the McLean accountant fatally shot by U.S. Park Police during a pursuit last November, has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to identify the officers involved.

The FOIA requests to the Department of Justice and U.S. Park Police Chief Robert MacLean demand records on the officers on duty the evening of the Nov. 17, 2017 shooting and officers on administrative leave since then.

In the nearly eight months since the shooting, Ghaisar's family has called for transparency in the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia's investigation and for Park Police to identify two officers who shot him. The officers have not been publicly identified but are on administrative leave.

"For more than eight months our hearts have broken more and more with each day we wait on answers from the very forces that are supposed to protect us all," said Bijan’s sister Negeen Ghaisar in a statement. "This silence cannot stand any longer. The Park Police and the FBI owe my family and the public, at the very least, an explanation of the basic answers and facts around Bijan’s death."

(For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

The family had previously demanded the release of the 911 call from the original hit-and-run leading to the police pursuit of Ghaisar. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia blocked the release in light of the continuing investigation.

Investigators returned to the scene of the shooting last month, but there have been no major updates about the investigation announced.

Ghaisar had been pursued by Park Police down the George Washington Memorial Parkway after fleeing from a hit-and-run in Alexandria, where his vehicle was rear-ended in a left turn lane. Video released by Fairfax County Police shows Ghiasar stopped several times during the pursuit. In these encounters, two officers approached Ghaisar's car with weapons drawn before Ghaisar drove away. The third time, Ghaisar stopped at Fort Hunt Road and Alexandria Avenue, where the two officers fired nine shots at him while he tried to drive away.

Ghaisar, who was unarmed, was struck by gunshots in the head several times and suffered severe brain damage, according to his family. He died 10 days after the shooting from injuries relating to the gunshots to the head.

Image via Ghaisar family