Posted on 03/25/2012 7:26:44 AM PDT by Howard Morrison
Not evidence in any court of law...that’s the way it is pony boy.
Do a little research... From the Miami Herald:
Over the years, his scores of calls to police showed he pursued shoplifters and errant drivers with zeal, reporting pit bulls, potholes, children playing in the street, open garage doors and “suspicious” youths — usually black males — loitering in the street.
He peppered his calls with jargon familiar to police. In one case, he chased a reckless driver while calling 911 — the driver later told police he was terrified that Zimmerman was going to attack him. In another case, Zimmerman tailed a supermarket shoplifter until a police officer successfully arrested the thief.
On the night of Feb. 26, he tailed Trayvon Martin through the Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated community where Zimmerman lived with his wife, describing his every move to a dispatcher who told him he didn’t need to follow the young man. A scuffle ensued and Zimmerman shot Trayvon dead. Zimmerman claims self-defense.
Dr. Laurence Miller, a Palm Beach County clinical psychologist who works with local police agencies, said he believes Zimmerman likely was acting out the “whole TV cop role in his head” when he confronted Trayvon.
“A lot of people like the power and control that law enforcement officers have but with that comes a tremendous amount of responsibility,” Miller said, pointing out that a police officer is the only profession that can use “coercive physical force” or lethal force to subdue a suspected criminal.
“People act like cowboys and like the power, but not the responsibility.”
...His prior contacts with the law would have given police agencies pause.
In 2005, according to an arrest report, a state agent arrested Zimmerman for battery on a law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. According to the report, agents with Florida’s Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco division were arresting several employees near the University of Central Florida.
Agent Paul Fleishman wrote that Zimmerman walked up to a pal under arrest and began chatting, refusing to leave. Zimmerman cursed him, Fleishman wrote, before pushing him and causing a “short struggle.”
The charge was later dropped when Zimmerman entered a “pre-trial diversion” program, which is not unusual for first-time offenders. The program usually entails paying fines and taking classes for anger management.
Zimmerman — in applying to enter the citizens’ police academy — later disputed the official version of the event, insisting that the agent never identified himself. “I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regaurd [sic] as I hope to one day become. I would never have touched a police officer,” Zimmerman wrote.
Before the case was resolved, he was also involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-fiancée, hair salon employee Veronica Zauzo.
Zauzo claimed Zimmerman was trolling her neighborhood to check on her. At her apartment, they spoke for about an hour when she asked him to leave. He asked for some photos and paperwork and she refused.
A pushing match ensued and her dog jumped up and bit him on the cheek, Zauzo claimed. Zimmerman, in a petition filed the next day, painted her as the aggressor, wanting him to stay the night.
“She accused me of going to another woman’s house or going to party,” wrote Zimmerman, who said Zauzo slapped, clawed and choked him.
In their petitions, both included previous allegations of violence. In the end, an Orange County circuit judge ordered them to stay away from each other for more than a year, according to court records. No charges were filed.
His domestic troubles continued in October 2007, when Zimmerman called police to report that the tires of his Dodge Durango were slashed and he suspected his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.
The man denied the claim and told officers he was so annoyed by text-message exchanges with Zimmerman that he was mulling a restraining order. None was filed, according to Seminole County records.
...Over the years, records show, Zimmerman worked selling insurance, for which he earned a vocational certificate from Seminole State College.
He also worked briefly at a CarMax auto dealership, where his paycheck was garnished because of a credit-card debt.
Several years ago, Zimmerman and his wife moved into the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a multi-ethnic community that had been plagued by burglaries in recent months.
Zimmerman, according to neighbors, stepped up to organize the community watch, patrolling the neighborhood while walking his dog, toting his Kel Tek 9mm semiautomatic handgun, for which he held a concealed weapons permit.
One resident told The Miami Herald that Zimmerman implored her husband to arm himself. Another neighbor, Frank Taffee, who has frequently supported Zimmerman to the media, said Zimmerman thwarted a burglary.
His next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Zimmerman always chatted with her in Spanish and was polite, once warning her husband to move his car lest it get towed from a prohibited sidewalk space.
“I feel bad that people are talking about him,” she said. “I don’t think he’s a bad person.”
...“In law enforcement, you always run into people who speak to you in cop jargon, in a way that you can tell they are some kind of frustrated cop,” Moss said. “For the most part, they are harmless and just love police officers, but sometimes, these conversations can be alarming.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/23/v-print/2712299/george-zimmerman-self-appointed.html#storylink=cpy
Read the whole article... it tells of his brush with the law and his wanna-be delusions. Then you tell me, do you really want this guy roaming your neighborhood with a gun?
http://www.sagepub.com/lippmanccl2e/study/supplements/Ohio/OH_08r.pdf
The basic idea is that in medieval England violence was common, far more common than it is today even in the worst cities.
Brawls broke out commonly. If somebody died in one of these brawls, for the killer to claim self-defense to justify or excuse the killing, he had to show that he was not a voluntary participant in the fight. That he attempted to withdraw but was unable to do so.
This was part of the common-sense, at least to me, notion that if two men get into a fight and one gets killed, the survivor cannot automatically claim self-defense.
It seems to me the major flaw in the "stand your ground" law (of which I approve in principle) is that it assumes all confrontations that end in violence have one participant who is the criminal aggressor and another who is an innocent victim of aggression.
Anybody who has ever seen a schoolyard or bar fight knows this is often not the case. Many fights have no obvious initiator or victim. Both participants no doubt feel justified in their own minds that they are defending themselves, but this is not always so obvious to an objective observer.
Duels were common in 18th and early 19th century America. Each participant was attempting to kill the other. Should this have allowed the survivor to claim self-defense, since he indeed killed a man who was trying to kill him? Legislators of the time didn't think so. They outlawed dueling.
Certainly many violent encounters are of the aggressor/victim type, but by no means all. And in those less clear-cut situations I think it is a bad idea to allow the survivor to automatically claim self-defense.
For instance, in the Zimmerman case, it seems at least possible that had the gun killed Zimmerman, Martin would have had a case for self-defense.
Absolutely agree about the poor standard of reporting.
Most gated communities I’m familiar with have gates that prevent cars from entering. If you’re on foot, you just walk around them.
There are quite a few around here, and I’m unaware of any that have made any attempt to have a continuous fence, etc. to prevent all entry.
40 years ago I was suspended for five days in 10th grade.
School had an idiot “no tolerance” policy for fighting. So even though I was defending myself (unfortunately ineffectively) against unprovoked attack, I was suspended for the same time as the aggressor.
Being suspended from school does not in and of itself prove the suspendee is a thug.
(I have had exactly zero involvement since with the legal system.)
um... lets see... good citizen who volunteers his time to help keep his neighborhood safe...
or wanna-be gangster who wanders the neighborhood at night, just kicked out of school seen by witnesses to be attacking the good citizen.
who to believe...
http://www.examiner.com/charleston-conservative-in-charleston-sc/new-trayvon-martin-picture-photo
Here’s a photo @ current age.
You're making a lot of assumptions to reach your conclusion that Zimmerman was simply a "good citizen" who was attached by Martin, a "wanna-be gangster."
That’s what has me riled up. There is so much conjecture that is being presented as fact.
Everyone has their panties in a wad simply because Al Sharpton has shown up.
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.