Posted on 03/25/2012 3:33:02 PM PDT by SaveOurRepublicFromTyranny
This news goes largely unreported, as race-hustling vultures, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, swoop onto the scene to exploit the tragic shooting for personal publicity and political gain, appointing themselves as judge and jury in the Trayvon Martin shooting case. President Obama is promoting a race war by inferring that Martin was practically his own son: "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon." He might as well as said, "When you kill Trayvon, you've killed my own son. If you support me, retaliate!"
(Excerpt) Read more at myfreedompost.com ...
That is not him.
I don’t necessarily believe Zimmerman did anything illegal, but it was pure stupidity getting out the car and pursuing. It made a bad situation much worse. I agree with your assessment of how this should be handled and its a shame is such a political issue now.
Show a picture of a 90 year old white lady and a picture of a 17 year old, six foot tall, black "child" to somebody and ask them to speculate which one might to be more likely to be responsible for the recent breakins in a neighborhood.
I'd be surprised if most people wouldn't think the black guy was more suspect. Is that fair? No, but if anybody told you life was always fair, they were lying to you.
Do they explicitly state that they must remain in their vehicle and not go on foot to try to keep a suspicious person in sight?
Did Zimmerman have any proof or suspicion that a crime had been committed? Also, the neighborhood is 50% minority, he didn’t see him walking through the Hamptons or Bel Air. I believe its in context. Again, reporting it to the police is well within the parameters of the Neighborhood Watch, exiting the vehicle and following, that is all Zimmerman.
Legally, you may not need to prove your verison of events, but when you have vigilantes wanting to lynch you and put a $10,000 bounty on your head, you need to prove something to somebody. Although I don’t think these people are interested in facts.
How did Martin attack him as he was returning to the vehicle (Zimmerman’s story) if Zimmerman didn’t leave the vehicle and try to pursue him? Yes, Neighborhood Watch states not to pursue, under any circumstances.
Z had ever right to be in hiw own neighborhood...he had every right to be vigilant...he was under no obligation to back off or stop following someone who is not from the neighborhood, wears a face concealing hood, and was of a similar description as other perps....
that said, there is such a thing as common sense and appropriate caution...Z didn't show much of that but then again, either did the victim...
I agree 100 percent. My point has always been that even if Zimmerman acted in good faith, it is quite possible that being pursued scared this kid half to death and made the situation worse. A little empathy for the 17 year old kid being harrassed and followed for no reason other then the color of his skin would be nice. Again, he was walking down the street, nothing more. He as scared as anyone would be. There is so much that is unfortunate in this case
...I mean, we all talk about taking back our neighborhoods and cities, yet when someone does do exactly that, everyone condemns him....
besides, I was under the impression that he wasn't calling 911 but the crime line....you do all know that that "gated" community had had a lot of burglaries in the last year don't you?
this story is tiresome and the real tragedy is that our justice system is being co opted...
I tend to agree. As a neighborhood watch member, he should have observed, not escalated. An equally poor decision on the part of the youth further escalated the situation, it would seem.
If it comes out in any way that Zimmerman initiated the assault, then I would think that he's in a world of legal trouble. But I haven't seen any evidence to support that theory as yet.
Zimmerman reported to the police that Martin was behaving suspiciously. He appeared to be casing houses. He looked at Zimmerman, and ran. Read the transcript.
As stated before, Zimmerman exiting his vehicle to maintain visual contact is not illegal. He was perfectly within his rights.
this is a no win situation and a horrible event....but that doesn't mean murder was committed....
I'd have a tough time finding it back, but I think I saw that there had been some breakins in that community. They had a neighborhood crime watch program for a reason. It isn't to investigate crimes after they've happened and then call for the police. The victims of the crimes can do that themselves. Zimmerman seems to have noticed a stranger in the neighborhood and felt it was worthwhile to have the police come to see if he belonged there. When Martin started running away after he was spotted, Zimmerman naturally thought his suspicions were on target that the stranger may have felt some good reason for running away, like maybe not wanting to hang around in case the police were on their way.
Also, the neighborhood is 50% minority, he didn’t see him walking through the Hamptons or Bel Air. I believe its in context.
Like I said before, as Zimmerman was volunteering in the neighborhood crimewatch program for years, it's likely that he kept his eyes out for who lived in that gated community, and would have a pretty good idea if he was seeing somebody that he had never seen before. It's not that big a community. How many people live there? A few hundred maybe?
Go to any small town that size, and you'd have a hard time finding somebody that WOULDN'T recognize that they were seeing a stranger walking the streets at night (regardless of the race of the stranger), let alone getting that response from somebody who was volunteering to watch out for and report suspicious activity. I don't know that Zimmerman's actions in calling the police would be any different if he saw a 17 year old WHITE stranger walking the streets at night.
Suspiciously is in the eyes of beholder. Him being in this case a neighbourhood busybody, nosey parker, and a wannabe cop, who once called 911 about children playing in the street, another time about a stolen bicycle (by black teenagers) which wasn't stolen, his judgment of suspiciousness was itself suspicious, and we know that it was suspicious to Martin, to whom he did not identify himself as a self appointed Captain of an unregistered Community Watch. Your hero Zimmerman himself behaved suspiciously, can't you at least admit that?!
Of course he left his vehicle. Nobody disputes that.
Yes, Neighborhood Watch states not to pursue, under any circumstances.
Some people may consider following at a distance to be something different than pursuit. The police dispatcher certainly didn't tell him he absolutely must stop following, only that he didn't need to. Could you provide a link to those rules that state that he had to stay in his vehicle?
Did he tell you that? Or is that just speculation?
“to whom he did not identify himself as a self appointed Captain of an unregistered Community Watch. Your hero Zimmerman himself behaved suspiciously, can’t you at least admit that?!”
Zimmerman was not required to identify himself. How could he? Martin ran, and Zimmerman lost him.
He was self appointed? The Neighborhood Watch didn’t appoint him captain? Proof?
Unregistered Community Watch? Do they need to register with someone? Proof they didn’t?
Again wild accusations and speculation.
If Martin did attack Zimmerman as Zimmerman returned to his truck (as indicated by available evidence and statements) then he obviously wasn’t threatened.
The burden is on those who are questioning Zimmerman’s actions to prove he did anything criminal.
Crickets.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.