Family Challenges Police Version of CEO's Shooting Death

(July 21) -- The family of a credit union CEO who was killed by a police officer in a New Jersey park known for male prostitution says the police account of the shooting is a "contemptible lie."

DeFarra Gaymon, 48, was a long way from his home in Suwanee, Ga., when he was shot and killed Friday in Newark by an undercover police officer. In a statement Tuesday, prosecutors said the married father of four was engaging in a public sex act when he resisted arrest and threatened to kill the officer, prompting the officer to shoot him in the chest out of self-defense.

Gaymon's family, however, says that account doesn't add up and is demanding a federal investigation into his death, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In a statement obtained by the paper, the family said police "killed an innocent man, with no history of or disposition towards violence." They also accused prosecutors of "attempting to defame" Gaymon. "Our family will not stand by and allow this to occur," the statement said.

Those who knew him are struggling to understand how Gaymon, a family man on his way to his 30-year high school reunion in Montclair, N.J., could have ended up dead.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino said an undercover officer was patrolling Newark's Branch Brook Park on Friday -- as part of a long-term sting operation to reduce male prostitution in the wooded area -- when Gaymon "engaged in a sexual act" and approached the officer in a way that "would lead one to believe that" he was propositioning him for sex.

The 29-year-old officer, who is not being named because of the undercover nature of his work, told prosecutors that he was trying to arrest Gaymon when the man lunged at him, tried to grab his weapon and attempted to flee.

Gaymon ignored "repeated commands to Mr. Gaymon to stop and submit" and then "repeatedly threatened to kill the officer," Laurino said Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Gaymon then lunged at and attempted to disarm the officer while reaching into his own pocket," Laurino said. The prosecutor said the officer, "fearing for his life," fired his weapon.

Family and friends, though, don't believe it. They describe Gaymon, the president and CEO of the Credit Union of Atlanta, as a kind and gentle person.

"The statement given by the police officer is illogical, inconsistent, nonsensical, twisted, jumbled, bizarre and, on its face, obviously false," the family's statement read. "We are absolutely convinced that the officer's statement is a contemptible lie."

They say the police account of Gaymon's aggressive behavior doesn't sound like the man they know.

"There's nothing threatening about his character," Gaymon's sister, Kelly Gaymon Armstrong, told The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. "He's a softie. It doesn't add up."

John Joyce, the president of the Montclair High School Alumni Association, shared a similar sentiment. "All the people that knew him say you never met a kinder, nicer, more gentle person, and they're stunned about what happened," he told The New York Times.

The officer has not returned to active duty and has been receiving medical attention for "trauma," according to the Times. This is the sixth fatal police shooting in Essex County this year.