In a tape released Thursday by his attorney, George Zimmerman detailed his own account of what happened on the night Trayvon Martin died. The chilling video takes the neighborhood watchman back to the scene of the crime, one day after he fatally shot the unarmed African-American teenager at "intermediate range" as described in the autopsy report.
There are mixed reports of the incident, which gripped a nation and caused widespread uproar over the decision by authorities to delay pressing charges. Through the video, the public gets a first glimpse at Zimmerman's initial round of statements to police officers in Sanford, Florida.
In the reenactment, Zimmerman said he was driving by when he past Martin was "leisurely looking" at a nearby home in the rain. "I just felt like something was off about him," he explained.
While on the phone with non-emergency officials, Zimmerman got out of the vehicle to allegedly find a street address for the officers. A dispatcher told Zimmerman not to follow the teenager. While walking back to his car, that's where the deadly encounter took place.
On the sidewalk, Zimmerman said "he [Martin] yelled from behind of me, to the side of me, he said, 'Yo, you got a problem?' And I turned around and I said, 'No, I don't have a problem, man.'" According to Zimmerman, Martin walked toward him and said "’Well, you got a problem now.’"
A scuffled ensued. Zimmerman said "he just punched me in the nose. And I fell backwards, to the side, somehow I ended up on my back. He ended up on top of me and he just kept punching my face and my head."
While he was allegedly "screaming for help," Zimmerman reported to police that Martin told him to "shut the f*** up" before reaching for Zimmerman's firearm. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Zimmerman remains in a solitary cell in Florida's Seminole County jail, awaiting trial for a second-degree murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty.
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Both sides of this are polishing up their stories. I really don't have sympathy for either party in this case. Yes, I feel sad for the parent who have lost a child. At the same time, their child was not the "super good kid" they tried to paint him to be. Parts of George's story make a lot of sense. Maybe one day males will evolve enough they can stop trying to be the tough guy and not get all offensive when asked a simple question, like what they are doing. On the other side, adults need to think more when speaking. The level of your voice, demeanor, etc all contribute to escalating or de-escalating a situation.
Why did he have to be a "super good kid"? Seems to me he was an average teenager. As for Zimmerman, I use the reasonable man test. Do reasonable people ride around their neighborhoods w a 9mm and challenge anyone they don't recognize? Seem kinda thuggish to me.
He seen Trayvon how many times? and Not once did zimmerman say I am security can I help you! ?????? or hey I am security it's pouring where ya going! or any thing Right! I figure he lives in the neighborhood and he is security why does he Not know the St. names??? I feel he was being the aggressor and he had the GUN!!!!!! So VERY SAD!!!
Try this on for size, Toni. The address that Zimmerman was looking for was the house number of the town house that he had spied Martin skulking through the dark backyard of; and the police dispatcher asked him to get it. That is when Martin ran! Now why would Martin be running iif he had seen an adult looking at him, then turning away and going to the front of the house talking on the cell phone? And why did 6' 3" Martin make the decision to not go home, and come back and challenge the adult, 5' 9" Zimmerman if he didn't have something sinister in his mind like an assault of a possible identifying witness to his nefarious trespassing activities? Especially an adult who say him headed to where his father's girlfriend lived, and therefore could alert the police as to where he could be found for questioning? Common sense, my good man. This was no accidental contact between these two individuals, and it's not as simple as just a miscommunication between them as you infer..
You'd make a great novelist, because that's a fantastic story you're telling. Not supported by any facts, so pure fiction, but maybe you could get an ep of Law and Order out of it.
Considering all of the tension in this tragedy, this is some pretty good satire on the "hoodie" debate. Copy/paste this link & watch on youtube and please share--->youtu.be/BWGmmTmw0Y0
Speaking of common sense Keith, let's get the facts straight. First, according to the coroner's report, Trayvon Martin was 5 foot 11 and weighed 158 lbs. This is rather slender. Second, Zimmerman didn't tell the police dispatcher and investigators that Trayvon was actually looking into the windows of homes. He said that the teenager was walking "casually" and with "leisure" , looking around the neighborhood. This behavior does not match that of a criminal/burgular. It is more consistent with someone who is relaxed and new to the neighborhood, which described Martin.
Third, you cannot tell why Martin was running. There is plenty of evidence and testimony to suggest that Martin was in fear of the stranger following him in the dark. According to someone who was on the phone seconds before Martin was shot to death, Martin described the man following him as "creepy". It is quite conceivable that Martin ran to evade the creepy stranger who had been asked by the police to not follow him.
Finally, there is no evidence that Martin was trespassing or committing any crime. He had a bonafide reason to be in the neighborhood.
"...there is no evidence that Martin was trespassing or committing any crime. He had a bonifide reason to be in the neighborhood." Ah, but not in the dark back yards looking at the houses. Zimmerman never described Martin as walking "casually" and "with leisure" (your words) to the police dispatcher. He described him as "a suspicious guy", "walking slowly, looking into the houses".
As to the cornorers report, probably a quick measureing tape job done more to ascertain if a regular sized coffin would suffice, that doesn't match with the High School Football Progam which had Martin listed as 6'3" and a 160 lbs which would have been ascertained on a scale with standing height measurement. And as a football running back, Martin would have been in excellant atheletic shape, with a fair amount of time spent building muscle in the weight room during the just completed season.
The "person" you describe as being on the phone with Martin was his middle school aged "girlfriend", and "creepy" sounds very much like an adjective a young girl might use, so I would ascribe that as to her embellishment, most likely. And finally, when the police dispatcher ascertained that Zimmerman had been pursuing Martin on foot (thru the backyards, you realize) he told the neighborhood watch officer "We don't need you to do that", at which time Zimmerman responded "OK", and then turned to go back to his vehicle while making arrangements with the dispatcher as to where he could meet the police patrol to be dispatched (the neighborhood mail boxes). It was shortly after that telephone call between the police dispatcher and the neighborhood watch officer ended that Zimmerman stated he was accosted by Martin, and then assaulted by him.
He wasn't a neighborhood watch officer. Neighborhood watch training specifically tells you to not approach suspicious people because that puts you in danger. If Zimmerman thought the kid was suspicious, he should have just called it in and went home. There was no logical reason to chase or challenge, unless you're a cop wannbe armed w a 9mm.
btw, when I was kid I cut through plenty of backyards and nobody shot me. My friends and I would also climb an apple tree down the block and steal apples. The old lady would yell at us and tell our parents, but she didn't shoot us. Why? Because we were kids being kids, and our parents were going dish out enough punishment to make sure we didn't do it again.
Acting as judge, jury and executioner is not something I want from my neighbors and I doubt it's what Zimmerman's wanted from him.
Common sense, those are the key words. My grandfather once told me that common sense is the ability to know the difference between a dip of ice cream and a dip of horse @!$%# (manure).
Maybe in some communities you look the other way, don't snitch, don't give a damn! But in this community that had been hit hard by numerous breakins and thefts, including a couple of shootings, the elected Neighborhood Watch Officer (elected by his fellow residends) Zimmerman had been previously commended by Sanford Police as having identified a number of theft and breakin suspects that led to their arrest, and even had apprehended one thief before that was in the act of fleeing with his loot.
And this Neighborhood Watch Officer had passed the Sanford Police community watch training program, was also enrolled in a program at his local Community College leading to a degree in Criminal Justice, and made the decision to carry (openly, not concealed), and the Sanford Police Department is on record as saying that while they recommended that neighborhood watch participants do not carry firearms, there was no law against it.
What you got away with as a "kid" has no bearing here. This was a gated community under attack by breaking and entering and thieving individuals, and there was no apparent need for Martin to be using the backyards to stroll home from the neighborhood convenience store he visited, and he was no kid (just short of his 18th birthday, he was a 6'3" 160 lb ex high school athelete). I'd say his prior history of defacing public property, suspicion of theft and in possession of a burglary tool (a large screw driver), and possession of marijuana residue and drug paraphenelia in his school book bag that all lead to three separate suspensions from his highschool pretty much tells the story on this youth soon to be an adult dancing on the tightrobe between the right side and wrong side of the law, Dee Plair.
He's looking mighty fine in this video for someone allegedly almost beaten to death.
From the killers description of the events Trayvon had three sets of hands. One set to beat him with, one to hold across his nose and mouth to stop him from screaming and a third to reach for the gun.
Zimmerman had two chances to avoid this whole situation. He could have stayed in his truck and waited for the police to respond and secondly to identify himself as a neighbourhood watch person when Trayvon asked him " why are you following me"?
Anbody know what the outcome of those 2 reporters in Norfolk was? I havent heard a lot about it , I was just wondering if they were charged with a hate crime or what?
High rolla:
Male and female white adults beaten by a mob of 30 black youth and young adults for being on "their turf" doesn't make national news. And it wasn't something worthy of an Eric Holder Justice Department big show of doing an investigation to see if hate crimes were an issue there, as was the sensationalized Travon Martin shooting.