Allow me to tell you up front, that of all the posters talking about this incident, you seem to have your facts straight, and these facts that you present are unassailable and of great value.
Semper fi, soldier.
Thanks, I appreciate that. Getting pretty frustrating though...
I think a lot of people chiming in about this incident don’t understand the fundamental concepts of criminal law.
To arrest someone, the police must have probable cause that a crime has occurred.
Probable cause means a set of reliable facts, circumstances or information that would lead a reasonably prudent law enforcement officer to conclude that a crime has been committed, and that a certain person committed it.
A crime is broken down into elements. For example, a statute may be written such as,
“BEE’S WAX HAIR PRODUCTS - INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE - Whoever possesses, with intent to distribute, consumer hair products commonly used by humans and that contain bee’s wax, shall be guilty of a Class B Misdemeanor and fined no less than $100 and no more than $500.”
The police conducting an investigation into illegal bee’s wax hair products who find some product on a suspect, would have to determine:
Did Zimmerman knowingly possess bee’s wax hair products?
Did he intend to distribute them?
Are they of the type commonly used by humans?
Do we know that they contain bee’s wax?
You should note that the police must determine that ALL of the elements were present before concluding that they had probable cause to make an arrest.
Just because something is “tragic” or horrifying does not mean that ALL the elements of a crime are present to make an arrest.
The police have concluded, in this case, that the elements were not present.