Newark Police Shooting

Today is going to be a shorter post mostly because I am generally having a shitty day at work.

I would like to briefly discuss the recent shooting of an unarmed man by a police department in the New York metro area. Sound familiar to anyone?

This particular case occurred in Newark, NJ and must be contextualized by the fact that violent crime is prevalent in Newark and that in the past month the Newark PD has shot 5 people.

Today the prosecutors announced the details of the shooting from the point of view of the police officer, who is also the scene's only witness. One DeFarra Gaymon, it would seem, was caught masturbating in a public park in Newark known to be a gay pick up spot. He became aggressive when cornered. The officer felt threatened, Mr. Gaymon apparently "lunged" toward the officer in an attempt to disarm him and the officer fired, killing Mr. Gaymon.

As today's New York Times article states, many questions remain (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/nyregion/21newark.html?ref=nyregion). The officer was only questioned about the fatal shooting more than 3 days later. He, apparently, was receiving treatment for "trauma" although other sources claim he was uninjured in the incident. The larger question remains why the officer, who is not being named due to his "undercover work," was by himself in the park in the first place. Apparently he lost his handcuffs in the pursuit of another man who was arrested and went back, alone, to retrieve them. This is when he was supposedly accosted and threatened by Mr. Gaymon and when he, ultimately, took this man's life.

Beyond the question of whether an urban police force should be prioritizing the criminalization of gay sex in public as opposed to, say tackling violent crime, beyond the question of why lethal force is ever used against an unarmed citizen, above and beyond the fact that, yet again, an undercover, plain clothes police officer has taken the life of another black man, one must ask can we even believe the story being put forward at the minute? And even if we can, does that justify such a drastic use of force?

My answer to both questions is clearly no. Police officers lie all the damn time to protect their own interests. Remember this story from last week when a cop was videoed approaching and then knocking a cyclist off his bicycle? The cop arrested the cyclist claiming that the cyclist had taken aim at him and attempted to knock him over. If it weren't for the video of the scene, one could have never questioned the validity of that story.

But above and beyond the fact that this officer was given several days to reflect on his version of the incident, the fact remains that lethal force was used against an unarmed man. Surely this is something that we cannot accept. Whether or not he was guilty of soliciting sex in a park, the cost of a life is far too heavy a price to pay. Are police officers not trained in non-lethal methods for disarming a combative citizen? Certainly, given the outcomes of past high-profile police violence trials, they must feel as though their actions, almost no matter how brazen, are likely to go unpunished. Or did this officer also think that he was grabbing his taser? It is time that we demand more transparency from our police force. A first step would be holding them accountable for their actions the same way we would anyone else who has taken a human life.