Questions After Officer Kills C.E.O. in Newark Park

NEWARK — Returning to New Jersey for his 30th high school reunion, DeFarra Gaymon had the kind of life one would not mind describing to old friends: he was a C.E.O., married, father of four. But Mr. Gaymon, who was in the Chess Club, the French Club, the Italian Club and the student coalition at Montclair High School, never made it to the party on Friday night at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands.

Instead, as other members of the class of 1980 were collecting their name tags, Mr. Gaymon, known as Dean, lay dying at the University Hospital in Newark, having been shot in the chest by a police officer in Branch Brook Park, a few miles away.

On Tuesday, the acting Essex County prosecutor gave the first detailed, public description of what happened in the wooded park that night, saying that the officer, who had tried to arrest Mr. Gaymon, 48, over lewd behavior, fired in self-defense. The prosecutor, Robert D. Laurino, said that Mr. Gaymon assaulted the officer, a 29-year-old member of the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, tried to flee and then, when cornered, attempted to disarm the officer.

Mr. Gaymon’s family released a statement that said, in part, “We know that the police killed an innocent man, with no history of or disposition towards violence.” A man who answered the phone at the family’s home in Suwanee, Ga., said no one there had more to say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/nyregion/21newark.html?hp

Hope he goes down for murder.

the officer. That justifies 'self defense'?

not to the point of shooting someone mind you... but if Gaymon was a married CEO father of four looking to pick up a male prostitute I could see him panicking as if his life was in danger.


Because a simple solicitation arrest can easily end the life of a married banker form the south, esp in African American circles.


Certainly no one needed to be shot let alone killed but the story seems potentially tragic on many levels.

And just suppose the cop was undercover and tried to entrap the man and he was offended?


TOO MANY VARIABLES.