Well that didn’t take long: Edward Esposito has been named as the undercover Newark sherriff’s officer who fatally shot Atlanta’s married father DeFarra Gaymon (pictured) on July 16 when the businessman allegedly was cruising a park for sex.
Esposito’s bullet entered Gaymon’s stomach when, Esposito claimed in a statement to investigators, Gaymon shoved him to the ground and threatened to kill him after Esposito flashed his badge. Gaymon was pronounced dead three hours later at a hospital.
He was buried on Saturday. His obituary does not mention cause of death.
[Montclair Patch, Star Ledger]
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Black Pegasus
What? “No Comments”??
Maybe if Davey Wavey was pictured above, you Queens would
be concerned about this man’s murder by the hands of a homophobe.
Damn Shame!
ForeverGay
You know Edward Esposito will recieve no punishment for purposefully killing DeFarra. First, he’s a heterosexual who killed a gay man. The jury will be heterosexual and all he has to say is DeFarra propositioned him and they will believe everything he says with no evidence needed because a gay man “propositioning” someone especially a heterosexual male for sex is worthy of death. Second, he’s a cop. Cops rarely get punished for anything they do. The public especially heterosexuals believe cops along with military servicemen are above the law or should be allowed extra room to violate the law. He will use that standard police defense, he was reaching in his pocket, and the heterosexual jury will let him go.
Black Pegasus
@ForeverGay: True! we will see a version of the “Gay Panic Defense” if this officer is ever charged (though I doubt he will be).
Ogre Magi
I hope real justice is served!
Devon
@Ogre Magi:
It won’t be.
This is America. In America cops are allowed to shoot an unarmed man execution style while he’s handcuffed on the ground and get off with a slap-on-the-wrist manslaughter conviction.
B
No. 5 · Devon wrote, “This is America. In America cops are allowed to shoot an unarmed man execution style while he’s handcuffed on the ground and get off with a slap-on-the-wrist manslaughter conviction.”
If you mean the incident in Oakland, the victim was not yet handcuffed and the jury found that the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the BART police officer had intended to use his gun rather than his taser. It’s received a lot of mention in Bay Area newspapers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?blogid=144&entry_id=66576 : “It was pivotal but sharply disputed testimony, with the expert, Michael Schott, adding fuel to the trial’s central questions: Was Oscar Grant resisting Mehserle’s efforts to handcuff him just before he was shot Jan. 1, 2009, at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland? And did Mehserle intend to shoot Grant with his Taser instead of his pistol?”
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-07-09/news/21943514_1_officer-johannes-mehserle-voluntary-manslaughter-verdict and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/09/oscar-grant-verdict-oakland-riots-johannes-mehserle_n_640468.html – from the Huffington Post article: “Mehserle, 28, testified during his trial that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station. Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead. Grant was shot as he lay face-down. The jury found that Mehserle didn’t mean to kill Grant, but that his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal.”
CondeNasty
Well also, from reading the victim’s obit I bet the family will not really want to pursue the case for fear of the details. Mr. Gaymon’s father is a Rev. and a Deacon uncle is mentioned. Reading between the lines it seems clear why he may have been on the DL. The family is devastated for sure, but I wonder if they will leave this alone for fear of what may come to light…
robert
the other thing about the oscar grant case is the movement of the trial and the exclusion of any african americans on the jury
B
No. 8 · robert wrote, “the other thing about the oscar grant case is the movement of the trial and the exclusion of any african americans on the jury”
Moving a trial is standard when there has been a lot of publicity in the press. As to the makeup of the jury, according to http://www.ktvu.com/news/23831293/detail.html : “The 12 jurors included eight women and four men. Of those, seven were white, four were Hispanic and one was East Indian. The alternates were composed of five women and one man. Three were Asian-Americans, two were white and the sixth was Hispanic.”
ewe
He was murdered and it all comes down to ego. The only justice in this case will be what is known as poetic justice and that is out of my hands. But no one is gonna tell me that cop was bending over as to offer his ass, NOT to retrieve his lost keys.
That cops lie will hopefully eat him away for the rest of his life.
ewe
The victim Gaymon was in the closet. He was no friend or ally to openly gay people or our struggles and his death brought negative attention because he lived a lie and was killed by another lie. He never once would have spoken up on our behalf.
Chitown Kev
@ewe:
Agreed with that, that’s why I didn’t understand the previous thread on this where the comments said that black gays need to be up in arms.
Would I like to see justice here…yes…
ewe
@Chitown Kev: There are ignorant hateful “people of color” out to destroy us. Black Gays need to voice outrage and expose the hypocrisy. This dead closeted idiot wankin away in a far away park from his home was a selfish shit who never once experienced what openly gay men do. I feel very comfortable saying he was a wannabee living in a bubble and holding up his nose in Atlanta. No different than any vile evangelical. Closeted gay men and women are not living the same life as openly gay men and women and they are to be pitied but not celebrated. They would let you walk the plank by yourself and remain silent as they watched from a distance. I am not putting my neck out for this charlatan or anyone else like him. I can understand but it is dangerous to accept people who remain closeted. It’s fucked up, low self esteem. People who are closeted at his age have accepted inequality and that is not at all what openly gay men and women screaming in protests are about at all. Having said that i hope that undercover cop takes a bottle of whiskey and a handful of pills to die alone as well.
jp
How can someone who claims to be a reasonable and intelligent person doubt one aspect of the officer’s story but not others? You’re all guilty of selective skepticism. You only think Gaymon is gay (and therefore worthy of discussing on this website) because the officer who shot him says so. You’re willing to believe that part of the story, but question everything else??
You don’t know where Gaymon was when he first encountered Esposito. Esposito says it was in the “gay sex” part of the park, but he’s also the guy holding the smoking gun. You also don’t know what Esposito said to Gaymon, what Gaymon said to Esposito, what Esposito did to Gaymon, what Gaymon did to Esposito, etc., etc.
You also probably didn’t know Gaymon grew up 5 minutes from the park he was shot in. But it’s no fun to believe a man attending the 30th high school reunion he organized might be in a childhood park for anything other that gay sex.
Are you only outraged because a gay man might have been murdered? I don’t think it should matter whether he was gay, black or otherwise. It sounds like an unarmed and possibly innocent man was murdered by the police. That isn’t a “gay issue.” It’s everyone’s concern.
Misseconrad
I personally knew Dean and he was a very personable person who was very pleasant! Now I won’t go as far as to say that all of the allegations aren’t true about his sexuality, but what I will say is that who are any of us, gay or not, black or whit, to judge him, his sexuality, his possible double life, and this situation! I understand homosexuals being sensitive to him being a “closet homosexual” but if anything you should understand his situation. We all have had situations that we may have been ashamed of or what not, but I believe that instead of being mad I might be a little sad that not only does his family have to bury him unexpectedly, but now they have to deal with all of the allegations and events that lead to his death. On top of that, we will NEVER know what really happened because its only one side of the story that can and will ever be told! I think we has a nation should be a little bit more compassionate to other people and their situations! R.I.P. Drean -The Pearl will miss you!!!!!!!!!
joelguru
Shoot gays. This gay was having sex in park & should’ve been in jail. He resisted & got killed. Drugs are gay.