This weird story appears to have gone on the down-low.

[Smarmie Doofus]

Mysteriously missing from the Times ( at least I couldn't find it) after the initial article.

Tragic on a number of levels and the whole ugly incident seems in danger of being swept under the rug.

So.... why not more attention?



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






Questions in Officer’s Killing of C.E.O. in Newark
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: July 20, 2010


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.

A fatal shooting in Newark on a Friday night is hardly a rare occurrence, but this was neither the usual spot nor the usual suspects, leaving many questions.

The officer, whose name was not released because of his undercover work, had been on what is not usually a particularly dangerous assignment, scouring the park, in northern Newark, for men seeking sex.

Mr. Gaymon was a successful businessman, the president and chief executive of Credit Union of Atlanta. On the Web site of the Credit Union Executives Society, Mr. Gaymon said his “ultimate career goals” were to lead a $150-million-plus credit union and provide “financial literacy programs that help employees and members become financially savvy.”

He added, “It’s just my passion to share information that can change a person’s financial life.”

Mr. Gaymon was one of the organizers of the reunion, which he drove up to attend. “All the people that knew him say you never met a kinder, nicer, more gentle person, and they’re stunned about what happened,” said John Joyce, the president of the Montclair High School Alumni Association.

The officer and his partner were patrolling the park in plain clothes, part of an operation that has been going on for years, said Mr. Laurino, the prosecutor.

Around 6 p.m., after chasing down a man and arresting him, the officer realized he had lost his handcuffs in the pursuit and went back into the woods, alone, to retrieve them, the prosecutor said.

“The plainclothes officer was bending down to retrieve his handcuffs,” Mr. Laurino said, “when he was approached by Mr. Gaymon, who was engaged in a sexual act at the time.” Words were exchanged that the prosecutor said “would lead one to believe that” Mr. Gaymon was propositioning the officer.

“The officer pulled out his badge, identified himself as a police officer and informed Mr. Gaymon that he was under arrest,” Mr. Laurino said. Then, he said, Mr. Gaymon shoved the officer to the ground and ran, ignored the officer’s demands to stop, and repeatedly threatened to kill the officer if he approached. The officer cornered Mr. Gaymon beside a pond and tried to handcuff him, Mr. Laurino said, but again Mr. Gaymon resisted.

“Mr. Gaymon reached into his pocket and lunged at the officer in an attempt to disarm the officer,” Mr. Laurino said. The officer, “fearing for his life,” the prosecutor said, shot Mr. Gaymon once, and he died at the hospital three hours later.

Mr. Laurino’s statement was based on an account given by the officer to investigators. Prosecutors said they knew of no one else who saw what happened, and they asked that any witnesses step forward.

The authorities said they did not interview the officer until Monday night, because he was being medicated and treated for trauma. He has not been approved to return to duty.

The shooting took place near where Bloomfield Avenue crosses Branch Brook Park, an area known for years as a place for sexual encounters among men, some of them prostitutes. Mr. Laurino said the sexual activity had prompted many complaints and many arrests, though he declined to say how many.

Willie Velez, 66, a volunteer at a visitor center in the park, said that he often saw men going into the bushes or into cars in pairs, and that on Saturday and Sunday mornings he often found several used condoms in the parking lot.

When Robert Gram, 28, was growing up nearby, his mother warned him to steer clear of the male prostitutes strolling the park. “You still see them sometimes,” Mr. Gram said, though less often in recent years, with increased police patrols.

People who frequent the park said the encounters could be brazen.

Kevin Davis, 43, a landscaper, said he had come across people having sex in the bushes and had even seen people driving while naked.

“They got no shame in the game,” Mr. Davis said.


Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

[Donnachaidh]

1. it's all over the news in Atlanta

Family is outraged, multiple people spoken to say he could naot have been involved in sex acts because he's a happily married man with kids, etc. It's being played out very differently here - none of the info about how he had supposedly propositioned the cop was in the report. :shrug:

[rocktivity]

2. Instant reasonable doubt.

“The plainclothes officer was bending down to retrieve his handcuffs...when he was approached by Mr. Gaymon, who was engaged in a sexual act at the time...”

Cute trick...VERY cute.

:eyes:
rocktivity

[sui generis]

3. well the sad fact is that "straight" men are a lot more likely

to go to public anonymous trysting locales to preserve their anonymity.

The even sadder fact is that a stupid cop would think that a late middle aged sexual adventurer in a public park was a gun-worthy threat.

Having said all of that, I don't have a problem with sex between consenting adults in any permutation of pink parts, but I DO have a problem with doing that in public, regardless of gayness or straightness or coneheadedness or whatever.

I also have a problem with cops stinging those people and leaving them branded for life as sex criminals and everything THAT implies.

Driving while naked? What does that have to do with sex? Nudity and Sex are not the same thing.

I once drove back from a beach in Jacksonville, FL naked, with coworkers on a business trip, due to loss of clothing in a high wind. We did find the keys and thank god left wallets in car. The hotel staff was quite amused.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. A minority of a minority of a minority, as it were. But still a pretty well known...

>>>>Having said all of that, I don't have a problem with sex between consenting adults in any permutation of pink parts, but I DO have a problem with doing that in public, regardless of gayness or straightness or coneheadedness or whatever.

I also have a problem with cops stinging those people and leaving them branded for life as sex criminals and everything THAT implies.>>>>>>>>>


... phenomenon. You'd think they ( we) would have more reasoned and sophisticated ways of dealing with public sex and it's practitioners. I'm still trying to figure out why this guy got *shot*.

[msongs]

4. who ya gonna believe, 2 police who get their stories coordinated, or a corpse? nt

[Meldread]

5. It's hard to know what to believe.

First off, I want to know what the hell this means: “The plainclothes officer was bending down to retrieve his handcuffs,” Mr. Laurino said, “when he was approached by Mr. Gaymon, who was engaged in a sexual act at the time.” Words were exchanged that the prosecutor said “would lead one to believe that” Mr. Gaymon was propositioning the officer.

So what exactly was Gaymon doing? Was he masturbating? If so, why did the cop have to wait for him to say anything? Was he fucking someone? Again, if so, why did the cop have to wait for him to say anything? We know he wasn't giving a blow job, otherwise he couldn't "exchange words" with the cop. Kinda hard to do that with something in your mouth. It's also really cute that Laurino claimed the event took place as the cop was "bending down" to get his handcuffs. He couldn't get closer to the old stereotype of a straight guy dropping a bar of soap in the shower if he wanted too. Because, you know, all gay men absolutely lose control over their senses when a straight man bends over to pick something up. There is only one thing that enters the mind of every gay man: "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Needless to say, that telling of events alone has me doubting the story.

On the other hand, it's well known that closeted gay and bi men regularly engage in such activity. They live their lying hetero lives, while cheating on their wives behind their back. More often than not in public bathrooms or parks. There is little doubt that this park was used for such activity. And if Gaymon was there when he was supposed to be on his way to somewhere else, that does raise questions.

Yet, at the same time, I have to wonder why a cop was given a gun to deal with people having sex. At the rate cops like to use tasers now-a-days you'd think that would be all he'd need. A taser is good enough for grandma, but the gay is so dangerous that a gun must be employed instead? Because we all know people cruising for sex, especially men looking to fuck other men, are armed to the teeth - with the gay. You might catch it.

I'm not saying events didn't play out as the cop claims. It's easy to envision it happening: Cop finds a closet case wanting to have sex with another man, cop attempts to arrest said closet case, closet case realizes that his secret will be exposed and promptly freaks out, and the event ends in a confrontation.

The only problem I have is that this confrontation - which is VERY PREDICTABLE - ends with a dead man, and I can't see or justify why that would happen.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. The guy appears to have been a "pillar of the community" so to speak.

Usually, when a pillar of the community is inexplicably killed by the police there is ... at least for a while... a media and/or community firestorm.

The absence of same is... in this case... perplexing; and somehow disturbing. Checked today's (Sat) NY Times: it's (i.e. the story) gone, baby gone. Ditto the NY Daily News.

Reply #1 above says it's getting media play in Atlanta...Mr. Gaymon's hometown... which I guess is good.

>>>>>First off, I want to know what the hell this means: “The plainclothes officer was bending down to retrieve his handcuffs,” Mr. Laurino said, “when he was approached by Mr. Gaymon, who was engaged in a sexual act at the time.” Words were exchanged that the prosecutor said “would lead one to believe that” Mr. Gaymon was propositioning the officer.>>>>>


I don't get that either. Particularly when they had the entire weekend to come up with an explanation:



>>>>>The authorities said they did not interview the officer until Monday night, because he was being medicated and treated for trauma. He has not been approved to return to duty. >>>>>


Which is another troubling aspect.

Re. guns: My guess is all Newark cops carry guns as no assignment in that city would be described by cops as a "safe" assignment. What's left unexplained is why a cop would have needed it to subdue Mr. Gaymon.... assuming the rest of their account is essentially true. Made more inexplicable by theunlikely image of Mr. Gaymon "lunging" at the officer * while* he ( Gaymon) had his hand in his pocket.


Very strange indeed. I feel bad for Mr. Gaymon. And for people caught in a life of contradiction.. as it appears he was. I feel bad for his family.

But what's annoying right now is that everyone's dropping the story.

Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in Chinatown: "Seems like half the city is trying to cover it up...."