Letter to the Editor
Further inquiry needed into Deng death
Do you know John Deng? He was a homeless man shot and killed by a plainclothes Johnson County sheriff’s deputy on July 24, while you were back home working a shitty job for beer money. Deng was a 26-year Sudanese man who lived a largely solitary and non-English-speaking existence in Iowa City, which no one seems to know much about, but judging from his criminal record, it seems to have largely revolved around stealing liquor and spending short times in jail.
On that evening, Deng was outside the Hawkeye Hideaway, down the hill from the Vine. He had been collecting cans, and one of the bags had spilled out into an alleyway. A man coming home from the bar began shouting at Deng to pick up his cans. The two got in a fight (nobody saw this part so the story blurs here a bit), and Deng allegedly stabbed him in the arm. An officer saw the altercation and shot and killed Deng.
It seems sad but justified until the testimony of actual witnesses is considered. Three men, sitting in a car in the alley nearby, saw the whole thing happen. They say Deng was standing still and not holding a knife when the deputy shot him. In one witness’ exact words, he saw the deputy shoot a man “in cold blood.” Deng’s last words were, “I don’t give a fuck.”
In my opinion, the period after a “peace officer” shoots and kills a man who witnesses say was unarmed should be marked by a reduced police presence in the community — at least until it can be determined whether the deputy is judged to be innocent of murder.
I just don’t feel safe with all these cops around. It can’t just be me — in fact, I know it’s not. A professor on campus has started a group called Citizens for Social Justice, and another group called Iowa Prison Discussion has been talking about it, too. There’s a meeting on Aug. 30 in the meeting rooms of the Iowa City Public Library at 2 p.m. I’m going because I care about whether the people I trust to serve and protect me commit unprovoked homicide.
In the meantime, The Daily Iowan owes it to us to investigate this incident to the fullest of its ability. Perhaps it should also question the fact that a deputy who may have killed an innocent man is on paid vacation on taxpayer money.
Evan Hudson
UI senior
comments powered by Disqus
