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 think Martin had an irrational fear of his guy. Zimmerman had a gun and was acting like a nut, Martin should have waited to see if Zimmerman was capable of harm before doing anything to protect his life.
Sarcasm.
Getting into a fight when you are in fear of your life is not unlawful. The “stand your ground” law says it’s OK.
You claim that I believe Zimmerman either because you are a liar or else because you are a retard.
I am assuming that it was Zimmerman because Zimmerman told the operator he wasn’t going to let him get away, then he exited his vehicle. He didn’t exit the vehicle to continue to observe. He didn’t need to exit the vehicle, if continued observation was the objective.
But he did need to exit the vehicle to establish contact with the target.
There is zero information showing that Martin initiated contact, zero. You do know what zero means, don’t you?
The KISS principle, where Zimmerman exited the vehicle, after telling the operator that he was going to stop Martin from getting away and zero testimony, or evidence, that Martin attacked first, would indicate Zimmerman (even if only tapping on the shoulder) or yelling at Martin to stop, initiated aggressive contact.
So, you have perhaps BETTER SOURCES? How about Zimmerman’s mom ~ what does she say?
“Rather, Zimmerman followed Martin, even after being told not to do so”
That is a false statement.
Here is what the dispatcher said:
Dispatcher: Are you following him?
Zimmerman: Yeah
Dispatcher: Ok, we don’t need you to do that.
That is a *long* way from the dispatcher telling him not to do it. Zimmerman had as much right to be in that public space as Martin did.
“Getting into a fight when you are in fear of your life is not unlawful. The “stand your ground” law says it’s OK.”
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PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENICS are frequently, if not always, in fear for their lives. So, according to you, the “stand your ground” law says its OK for them to get into fights whenever such fear overtakes them.
I think they instead need to get mental health help.
Cool, now we know how you’d react.
How about a 17-year old named Trayvon?
That is what I figured. I will not assume that until some evidence is put forth the show he did attack. I do like that the government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Simply not true. If Martin was going out of sight of the vehicle, he would have to get out of the car to observe him.
Asking a person what they are doing in an area (which all agree that Zimmerman did) is not trying to apprehend or aggression.
Yep. "My baby didn' do nuffin'..."
We've heard that one before.
Granted, we've had out of control Mall Cops too.
Without having identified himself as the security, Martin could not have known anything other than a perfect stranger was asking him to identify himself.
If a random person, for all intents and purposes from Martin’s POV, came up to you or I asking for our identification, we would’t give it. Especially if that person was asking in an aggressive fashion.
You are parsing words. Initiating contact is not illegal, as long as it is not physical contact.
The question has always been: who first attacked the other physically. Zimmerman says it was Martin. The police say the physical evidence is consistent with Zimmerman's story.
Martin's family and supporters basically say that Martin could not have attacked Zimmerman because Martin was black and 17, or they claim that someone following you and asking why you are in a place is grounds to attack them.
If Zimmerman was the first to physically attack Martin, then Zimmerman would have a difficult time with a self defense claim. We simply have no evidence that he did that. We only have conjecture.
You said: "Zimmerman is apparently claiming that Martin attacked him. This is a reason to believe that perhaps Martin broke the law."
I was merely pointing out that Zimmerman's claim that Martin attacked him is a self-serving statement, and, without more, is not "reason to believe that perhaps Martin broke the law."
Most of us, if we had to live by the rules that students do today, would have easily gotten hit with ten-day suspensions or even expellations for just normal kid behaviour.
I don’t consider that to be important. I would need to see a pattern of criminal behaviour where he lived with his mom before I would consider it to be a factor. It’s been a good week now, and since nobody has brought anything forward, I think the kid was just a kid doing kid things, even when he got his suspension where he was at.
However, no such recording has shown up. It is interesting that it is an attorney that is representing the Martin family that has come up with this, and the girl is not identified, nor is she willing to talk to police. The phone records are only what the attorney is showing, and no phone numbers have been released to the police so that they can check out the story.
In addition, so far, we do not know of any phone being recovered from the scene from Martin.
It will be very interesting if such a phone does or does not show up.
This is potentially new information, so it could be very important to the investigation. The girl, her phone, and all phone records should be part of the official investigation.
As I said, simply touching another person would be considered assault. Zimmerman didn’t have to throw a punch or anything to be considered at fault.
As I said, if a random person, who does not identify himself, comes up to me and even touches me on the shoulder and asking questions, seemingly without reason, I am going to be concerned for my safety as there would be no reason for anybody else to be doing that. as far as I know in that situation.
If I tried to walk away and that person tries to stop me, as far as I know, because I don’t know who this guy is, my life is in danger and I am going to act under that assumption.
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