[Mustangman]

Perhaps the use of the word ‘wrong’ was a bit too descriptive.

I think a non-professional person (such as Z), seeing a ‘suspicious’ person in the neighborhood should call the police and then move on...go home....get lost. This is certainly what I would have done....simply because I would not want to get into any situation that I could not handle.

Way baack when I was in HS, I knew this guy who worked at a KMart. He saw someone shoplift an item and run out the store. My friend chased after him and after several hundred yards, he actually caught the guy. He then got his butt kicked for his troubles...and the guy ran off anyway. Again, sometimes the brain needs to engage before the feet start moving.

Just to reiterate, I do not think for one second that Zimmerman wasn’t justified in shooting Trayvon. With that said, I do think he should have used his brain to avoid the situation altogether....that’s all.

[UncleHambone]

I think the growing assumption that policing is a job only for professionals is wrongheaded and reinforces the divide between police and the rest of the citizenry. As Robert Peel stated, "the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence" (my emphasis). When the police think they are separate from the rest of us it leads to authoritarian, entitled, and out-of-control police. When ordinary citizens think they are separate from the police it leads to a freer hand for criminals.

Your point about "non-professional" persons is well taken, though. There certainly is a limit to what a citizen should be expected to do. I think keeping tabs on a criminal or suspicious from a safe distance is not asking too much.

[Elsie]

...and the guy ran off anyway.

:Never to return to THAT store again!

[Mr. K]

you do realize he was attacked, right?

He did not go looking to confront Saint Skittles, he went to see what the street name was so he could inform the police