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I. BACKGROUND
On December 27, 2019, Berry called 9-1-1 to report a missing person, his nine-year-old son
whom he claimed not to have seen since Thanksgiving. Pearson and Officer Dwight Pitterson
(“Officer Pitterson”) responded to the 9-1-1 call, subsequently arriving at Berry’s apartment. Berry
then advised the officers that he was worried about his son who was living with his son’s mother.
The officers were also shown a FaceTime video of Berry’s son, which Berry claimed showed that
his son was suffering from a black eye and bruising. However, the child stated in the video
recording that any visible injuries he received were as a result of roughhousing with his siblings.
Consequently, the officers denied Berry’s request to report his son a missing person because Berry
knew where his son was residing. The law enforcement officers also advised Berry that any
bruising received by his son as a result of playing roughly with his siblings would be insufficient
evidence to warrant a welfare check. Pearson also warned Berry that by reporting his son missing
when he knew his son’s whereabouts, Berry was falsely summoning law enforcement, a criminal
offense. Pearson further advised Berry that he was aware of a protective order that was in effect
preventing Berry from having contact with his son.
After law enforcement left his apartment, Berry contacted the Newport News 9-1-1 call
center six additional times requesting a welfare check on his son. Berry also contacted the Fairfax
County Police Department on their non-emergency line twice, requesting that they perform a
welfare check on his son who was then residing in Fairfax County with his mother. These
additional calls occurred over a period of approximately four hours.
After receiving notice that Berry was making additional 9-1-1 calls, Pearson and Officer
Pitterson, joined by Detective Krystal Alexander (“Detective Alexander”) and Officer LeMarcus
Scott (“Officer Scott”), returned to Berry’s apartment. The officers failed to obtain an arrest warrant
for Berry prior to returning to the apartment. In addition, before knocking on the front door of Jump to an indexed page (18 of 18)