When police officers arrived, Martin was lifeless, face down on the ground, while Zimmerman was bleeding from his head and his back was covered in grass, as if he had been on the ground, the police report said.
Sanford police issued a statement Wednesday defending their decision not to arrest Zimmerman. They said that when officers arrived, he claimed self-defense, which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony.
The police chief said Zimmerman claimed he was attacked by Martin after he had given up his chase and was returning to his truck.(my emphasis)
As noted earlier here, at least one witness saw Zimmerman on the ground with Martin on top of him, beating him, and Zimmerman crying for help before Zimmerman shot Martin. This is suported by the police finding of grass on Zimmerman's back and Zimmerman having a head injury, apparently from Martin's beating him. As noted above, Zimmerman says Martin attacked him after Zimmerman "had given up his chase and was returning to his truck." If that's true, then Zimmerman, fool that he may have been for initiating the confrontation, still has a solid self defense case. Indeed, since he's the only direct witness to how he and Martin came into physical contact, that could be a very hard case to disprove.
All in all, we should withhold judgment until this case is fully investigated and it's detemined which of the men inititated the physical confrontation. LSM screechers, like the odious Shepard Smith, should shut their collective pie holes.
There’s always two sides to every story. Unfortunately, Zimmerman has already been convicted thanks to lame stream hysterical media who never get the facts in a case.
“This case is not as clearly anti-Zimmerman as many here on FR seem to believe and the MSM is telling us. FTA:”
A few years ago, there were a string of burglaries in our neighborhood and we had the misfortune to be among the victims. It took the police 45 minutes to get here and another time while we were out—after we put in an alarm—almost an hour. Nobody, and I mean nobody now drives a strange vehicle through the neighborhood without the license plate being taken down or if a stranger comes through, someone will “chat” with them to see if it might be friend or foe. I can tell you that if one of the “aliens” would become hostile, I’ll be calling the cops and telling them the “alien” is dead just to get them here in a reasonable aount of time regardless of whether I shot them or not.
Did Treyvon's family also live in the gated community?
If not, what was Treyvon doing in it? Most gated communities I know, you have to check in at the gate and be either a resident or the registered guest of one. So if Treyvon was neither, he was just taking a short cut or whatever and didn't bother to check in at the gate. Then he really was "acting suspiciously" and Zimmerman had every right to stop him and ask what he was doing there, as gated communities aren't "public property". At a minimum he was trespassing.
Early on, I recall hearing a 911 tape from a resident inside her home. She called because someone was outside screaming for help, then there was a gun shot. You could hear the whole thing through the phone. At that time, I assumed it was the teen who was screaming. Now, it sounds like it was Zimmerman. Still, Zimmerman could have chosen to avoid a confrontation, was even advised to, so I he will have a hard time convincing anybody he “feared for his life”.
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While the Zimmerman white on black killing is covered 24/7 on the MSM with an outpouring of rage and charges of a racial hate crime, where is the concern- where is the rage about the home invasion, torture, beating, rape and murder of the elderly white couple by African Americans in Oklahoma just the other day?
The 90 year old war veteran husband was beaten, his jaw broken, shot in the face with a BB gun and now barely clings to life.
The 85 year old partially blind wife was raped and beaten to death.
.
Theres a lot more here than a home invasion and robbery.
WHERE ARE THE CHARGES OF A RACIAL HATE CRIME??
90 year old husbands jaw broken and shot in face with BB gun?
85 wife year old semi blind wife RAPED and BEATEN to death??
Where is the 24/7 MSM coverage
Where is the outrage?
What picture? The one of the founding fathers writing the Constitution?
I agree.
If the kid attacked Zimmerman, he MIGHT have been justified. But as this was not in Zimmerman’s home and the kid was unarmed and appeared to be behaving in a non-suspicious manner, I question Zimmerman’s actions. But am willing to wait and see.
There are legitimate reasons for people to go about armed. I support this. But whnever somebody abuses that right, it creates opportunities for left-wing ideologues like Shppard Smith etc to attack us and that right.
We need to wait and see what more materializes here. Trying people in the press is an insidious abuse of our right to a fair trial by our peers.
Frankly, that's universally good advice. Rarely does a news account of an incident tell enough of the whole story to make an informed decision, and more often than not, only contains one side's views of the event.
I’m amazed at rush to judgement here. It’s the opposite side of the same coin you all are complaining about.
Pathetic.
Does anyone know if the neighborhood watch vehicles are marked or if Zimmerman was wearing a jacket or cap that would identify him as a member of the neighborhood watch?
I figured there was more to this. The way the media makes it sound, including Fox, is that the Watch guy phoned in, said there was someone suspicious, then chaesed the kid down, and that the kid was on the cell phone to his girl friend who said he was scared and running and then they heard gun shots.
Not ONE WORD about any potetnial scuffle that had Zimmerman on the ground and bleeding, or any witnesses stating as much.
This one piece of information, if true, changes my opinion and view of the case 180 degrees. From a guy chasing a young kid down and killing him to a guy chasing a young kid who he couldn’t catch and then getting blind sided by that same kid and having to defend himself.
It's cool in here, so they'll keep for a couple days . . .
Zimmerman created the confrotation that lead to the altercation, Martin didn’t drag him from his car, bring him within arms reach and pummel him.
There is no self defense here, just a overzealous neighborhood watch guy who thought he was a cop who bit off more than he could chew, and when it didn’t go his way, shot the guy.
Zimmerman clearly created the situation, for him to claim victim status is laughable.
Police played the 911 tape for Trayvon Martins father, who tells police that the voice screaming is not the voice of his son.
The media also characterizes Trayvon as a model student. In fact, he was under a five day suspension when the shooting took place. That is why he was staying at a house so far from his school on a school night. A lawyer for Trayvons family has blocked access to his school records
Is this an election year? Is the Holder Justice Department involved yet? Will a bear....?
Yesterday I was ready to convict Zimmermann. But, when I heard that Martins father said the voice yelling for help on the 911 call was not his son, I changed my mind. It must have been Zimmermann who was in trouble. Those pictures of Martin do not show how big he is now. I havent heard how close to Zimmermanns truck that Martins body was found. If Zimmermann was going back to his truck like he said, Martin must have followed him. I just wonder where his body was found.
Looks like this leftist bunch has finally given up on "Save Mumia", the twenty-year fervered celebrity drive to absolve and free a murderer who, unfortunately for them (and him), is still doing life without the possibility of parole.
Michael Moore is one of those leading the charge in the Florida case. I see another of his propaganda documentaries in the making....these types of causes celebre are how he makes his slimy living.
Leni
Zimmerman is being tried and found guilty in the court of race baiting public opinion and the media.
The police are handling this in a manner which indicates the evidence tells them that Zimmerman has some probable defense in the SYG interpretation. They are behaving as if they don’t want to go any further with this in fear of losing any potential civil lawsuit against them by Zimmerman for false arrest, etc.
How Zimmerman interacted initially with Martin or vice versa, is not known. But as the evidence indicates, Martin obviously started getting the better of Zimmerman, enough so that Zimmerman felt threatened enough to use his firearm.
Now all that’s left for some is the hanging of Zimmerman I guess, especially some of those here on FR who are opining with an incomplete set of facts in their little bag of tricks.
The bastards in the media and the race baiters are doing their jobs well.
It’s interesting that just a few years ago, the race baiting NACCP and others, wanted to “wait for all of the facts to come out” when some black females in Long Beach were yelling racial epithets at whites and subsequently beat a bunch of them down in what was obviously a racially motivated attack. Funny, they don’t appear willing to “wait for all of the facts to come out” here.
Regardless of whether Zimmerman was within his rights to shoot at Martin, Zimmerman is screwed.
There is so much attention, marches, etc. that he will be found guilty .