Fairfax County's New Police Chief Comes With History Of Lawsuits

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County’s incoming police chief had a series of use-of-force cases brought against him when he worked for the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland earlier in his career, according to reports.

Last week, Fairfax County announced it had hired Kevin Davis to lead the largest police department in Virginia as the nation deals with a new rash of police shootings in the wake of the guilty verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

From Spotsylvania County to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, law enforcement agencies remain on the hot seat for shootings by their officers.

In the early 1990s, Davis — who Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey McKay described last week as someone who will further the county’s work on police reform — stopped a soon-to-be law student named Mark Spann while he was driving in Prince George's County.

After Spann was stopped, Davis violently took him to the ground and arrested him, Spann told NBC4.

“I have to this date never experienced such racial slants, slurs and epithets and the denigration," Spann, who is Black, told the news station. "I remember at one point he had placed his baton next to me on the seat and he began putting on black leather gloves and these are all intimidation tactics."

Spann won a civil lawsuit against Davis.

Six years later, Davis, who had been promoted to sergeant, was sued for false imprisonment and arrest of a man who said Davis and other officers essentially kidnapped him for a night, NBC4 reported.

The victim won his civil lawsuit.

SEE ALSO: New Chief Supports Police Reform In Fairfax County

Davis was then promoted assistant chief of the Prince George’s County Police Department before getting jobs leading Anne Arundel County and Baltimore city's police departments.

Davis is scheduled to begin as Fairfax County police chief next Monday, succeeding former Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. who announced his intent to retire last November.

In a statement provided to NBC4, Davis said he is “proud" of his "long career in law enforcement that includes leadership roles as Assistant Chief, Chief, and Commissioner in three large jurisdictions."

“A career that includes a history of reform accomplishments, a demonstrated commitment to diversity, crisis intervention, use of force de-escalation, body camera implementation and police discipline transparency,” Davis said.

One of the goals of the police reform movement has been to prevent police officers who have been found to use excessive force or to have brutalized citizens from getting promotions or moving to different jurisdictions to find new jobs.

"I'm incredulous that this person could rise in the ranks of helping to serve a community, any community,” Spann said of Davis.

Earlier this month, a former Fairfax County police officer who was hired last August by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office in Florida was fired when Brevard County learned he was under federal investigation for his actions as a Fairfax County police officer.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey fired deputy Jonathan A. Freitag after he became aware that the officer had a long history of misconduct allegations which, according to the sheriff, were not provided to his agency by Fairfax County during a background investigation, Florida Today reported.