Posted on 03/20/2012 9:36:58 PM PDT by marktwain
A Sanford neighbor of George Zimmerman and fellow neighborhood watch captain in their gated community came to his defense Tuesday, saying that he shot Miami teenager Trayvon Martin after numerous burglaries at The Retreat at Twin Lakes.
Frank Taaffe pointed out the circumstances that he believes led his 28-year-old neighbor to react the way he did on the night of Feb. 26: eight burglaries within 15 months, most done by young black males, he said.
"The stage was already set. It was a perfect storm,” Taaffe said. “I think any time you use a weapon, there are certain anger issues working.”
NBC 6 could not immediately confirm the burglary statistic Taaffe cited in a phone call to Sanford Police Tuesday night.
Martin, 17, picked up Skittles and iced tea from a 7-Eleven that Sunday, then headed back towards his father’s girlfriend's home on a rainy, drizzly night. Martin put on his hoodie and ran to take cover. Zimmerman spotted him, got out of his car and followed him.
In Trayvon Martin's final phone call with his own girlfriend, according to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, he could be heard saying “Why are you following me?” and Zimmerman replying “What are you doing around here?”
Their confrontation ended with Martin getting shot in the chest.
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good … he looks black,” Zimmerman told a police dispatcher from his car. His father has said that Zimmerman is Hispanic, grew up in a multiracial family, and is not racist.
Twin Lakes’ population is ethnically mixed. A few residents said there is tension within the gated community.
“I think he had fed-up issues. He was mad as hell and wasn't going to take it anymore,” Taaffe said of Zimmerman.
He insisted, however, that Zimmerman cared about all his neighbors.
"George is a congenial, amiable, admirable person,” he said. "He had a passion and a care for this neighborhood to ensure the safety of everybody here. And, furthermore, George is no Rambo."
Taaffe said that Zimmerman actually was appointed as a watch captain, despite reports that he appointed himself to the post.
He said he believes his neighbor acted in self-defense. That is what Zimmerman told police.
Zimmerman has not been charged, despite growing calls for his arrest.
"It’s really sad that he's already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber,” Taaffe said. “Let's let justice do its job."
At the same time, Martin’s death is “devastating,” he said.
”It's a tragic event – we can’t bring that boy back,” he said. “I wish we could.”
I can just hear the whining for the next 50 years when/if he’s exhonerated. They’ll probably bill a shrine to this kid in Atlanta, alongside MLK, and of course half the US street names will have to be changed to honor the kid. There will be a Trayvon Martin Boulevard in every city with two or more residents.
“In a news report on Fox News this morning, Zimmerman was identified as “white.” “
At this point any non-black perp is white (to aggrieved blacks); I couldn’t imagine dealing with this in my town.
““...fed up, mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore...”
sure sounds like a wannabe Dirty Harry to me. Lock him up. Instead of observing and reporting, he confronted a scared young black guy who up to the point where he fatally crossed paths with Zimmerman was doing absolutely nothing wrong. IMO Zimmerman was the instigator of the confrontation...”
Horsepucky! I’m an informal Neighborhood Watch guy in my neighborhood and would also be “mad as hell” if my neighorhood was getting burgalrized! According to you, that would make me a wannabe “Dirty Harry” also. Heck, I even challenge the cops if I observe them hanging around my neighborhood; some explain why they’re there and some refuse, after which I call their station and ask the dispatcher. IMHO, you’re jumping the shark when all the evidence is NOT known yet.
JC
““...fed up, mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore...”
sure sounds like a wannabe Dirty Harry to me. Lock him up. Instead of observing and reporting, he confronted a scared young black guy who up to the point where he fatally crossed paths with Zimmerman was doing absolutely nothing wrong. IMO Zimmerman was the instigator of the confrontation...”
Horsepucky! I’m an informal Neighborhood Watch guy in my neighborhood and would also be “mad as hell” if my neighorhood was getting burgalrized! According to you, that would make me a wannabe “Dirty Harry” also. Heck, I even challenge the cops if I observe them hanging around my neighborhood; some explain why they’re there and some refuse, after which I call their station and ask the dispatcher. IMHO, you’re jumping the shark when all the evidence is NOT known yet.
JC
““...fed up, mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore...”
sure sounds like a wannabe Dirty Harry to me. Lock him up. Instead of observing and reporting, he confronted a scared young black guy who up to the point where he fatally crossed paths with Zimmerman was doing absolutely nothing wrong. IMO Zimmerman was the instigator of the confrontation...”
Horsepucky! I’m an informal Neighborhood Watch guy in my neighborhood and would also be “mad as hell” if my neighorhood was getting burgalrized! According to you, that would make me a wannabe “Dirty Harry” also. Heck, I even challenge the cops if I observe them hanging around my neighborhood; some explain why they’re there and some refuse, after which I call their station and ask the dispatcher. IMHO, you’re jumping the shark when all the evidence is NOT known yet.
JC
““...fed up, mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore...”
sure sounds like a wannabe Dirty Harry to me. Lock him up. Instead of observing and reporting, he confronted a scared young black guy who up to the point where he fatally crossed paths with Zimmerman was doing absolutely nothing wrong. IMO Zimmerman was the instigator of the confrontation...”
Horsepucky! I’m an informal Neighborhood Watch guy in my neighborhood and would also be “mad as hell” if my neighorhood was getting burgalrized! According to you, that would make me a wannabe “Dirty Harry” also. Heck, I even challenge the cops if I observe them hanging around my neighborhood; some explain why they’re there and some refuse, after which I call their station and ask the dispatcher. IMHO, you’re jumping the shark when all the evidence is NOT known yet.
JC
Sorry for the multiple posts, but I swear I only hit the post button ONCE!
BTW, I’m getting off this thread; there are way too many posters just making up imaginary “facts” NOT in evidence then making conclusions based on these faked strawmen. You know who you are!
JC
You know, since the facts are coming out I’m changing my mind about this case...this was not a skinny little kid but a 6’3” , 200 lb. guy...those photos we saw were probably carefully reviewed by that family lawyer, a low-rent Johnnie Cochrane IMO, and seeing as how it’s become a political football now, I think it’s being used to stir up racial conflict in an election year. Never let a crisis go to waste, and all that...;)
“Put him under oath.”
People don’t lie under oath? “Oath” is something that compels truth? Really? Are you seriously that naive?? When filing a police report as he did it comes every bit as strong under law as an oath in court. Lying on a police report is a felony.
Under Oath.
I THink you are confounding "police investigation" with "trial"
Careful reading of the laws you reference elsewhere clearly reveals you don't need to bring a gun with you to be protected by the law>
You are entitled to be walking along peaceably minding your business ~ and if necessary defend yourself!
Thanks for the comeback Frank. I had read that Martin was NOT a “little boy” as that blowhard Shep Smith on Fox bloviated about, but was 6’3”, almost a legal adult. Now you reveal he was 200 lbs also, that is significantly bigger (and probably much stronger) than Zimmerman, a short multi-racial hispanic approaching middle age! I also learned that he had been suspended from high school in Miami for 10 days, a severe penalty that was the reason he was visiting his Mama in Sanford. You can bet that the race-baiters there (and here, unfortunately) are trying to make hay out of these tragic circumstances for ideological reasons. When the actual facts come out, some of ours (and the Sharktons and JJs) will duck back into their racist hideaways, leaving their stench in the air as if nothing was amiss! I always tell those folks to stuff their race cards up their butts, side-ways!! (See also the reports of 17 yr old black gang bangers that murdered two Brit tourists that were lost near the “projects” in Sarasota. (Those weren’t “little boy” perps either!)
JC
You sound like hitlery klinktoon tryin’ to use a fake accent to impress an audience. Won’t work...because everyone already knows that no 400# Skittles addict can sneak up behind some one and bash them in the back of the head without their pounding feet being heard! HAW!
JC
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