Posted on 03/25/2012 12:30:48 PM PDT by Steelfish
Witness: Zimmerman 'Never ... Tried To Help' Trayvon Martin
By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
A woman who says she and her roommate witnessed the final moments of Trayvon Martin's life told Dateline NBC that George Zimmerman had "his hands pressed on his back" and "never turned him over or tried to help him."
Zimmerman's lawyer, when shown part of the interview being aired Sunday night on Dateline, emphasized that his client would be claiming self-defense.
"I think there were efforts made to render aid to Trayvon," Craig Sonner told NBC's TODAY show.
Mary Cutcher told Dateline that she and her roommate both saw Zimmerman "straddling the body, basically a foot on both sides of Trayvon's body, and his hands pressed on his back."
Cutcher added that Zimmerman told her and her roommate to call the police. "Zimmerman never turned him over or tried to help him or CPR or anything," Cutcher said.
Sonner also reiterated what he had said in recent days, that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose and a gash to the back of his head.
A friend of Zimmerman's who appeared on TODAY with Sonner added that Zimmerman, 28, was distraught over the teen's death.
"Right after the shooting he couldn't stop crying," said Joe Oliver, who is African American and a former TV reporetr and anchor in Orlando.
Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting that has ignited racial tensions and raised questions about the Sanford police's handling of the case. Martin was black, and Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is Hispanic.
In a separate interview Sunday, Oliver said that "I'm a black male and all that I know is that George has never given me any reason whatsoever to believe he has anything against people of color.''
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
Wrong, the facts are the facts, it what the people said. Read it for yourself. http://m.nbcmiami.com/nbcmiami/pm_108215/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=n657ijSz
Not saying it was wrong to wear a hoodie, just an odd apparel choice in a hot state. I guess kids wear just about anything these days.
Cops have no problems tazering kids.
“Zimmerman was a wanna-be cop, overzealous and always suspicious. Over 40 previous 911 calls.”
Inflammatory remarks like this don’t help. The community appointed him to lead the Neighborhood Watch. If there is proof he was overzealous please provide it. Always suspicious? Again, do you have proof? He was head of the Neighborhood watch in a neighborhood with multiple crimes during the year. That would certainly put me on high alert if it was the case in my neighborhood. As Neighborhood Watch in a high crime area, give me evidence how many 911 calls weren’t justified. I live in Las Vegas. I lived in a nice gated community right next to condos that were made Section 8. I literally had on average at least 1 police helicopter per week circling over my house and at least 2 stores in the shopping plaza I was next to kept their doors locked till they saw who was there. Now how many 911 calls do you think the police got in a year from that area? I was very happy to have a big German Shepherd and a gun. I also found evidence a least one person jumped the wall into my backyard after the house behind me was turned into Section 8, plus after a fight in the street I had phone in hand to call just before it broke up, and that wasn’t the first time their activity had me thinking I might need to. So I can understand if Zimmerman maybe felt a little paranoid with the increase in crime.
The point I was referring to would be rebutted with "cops have no problems shooting kids."
I am amazed that you then turn around and say the wording of those instructions don't matter, and are just semantics, whether it was "we don't need you to do that" and "CEASE AND DESIST FOLLOWING THE BOY".
As other posters have indicated, it wouldn't matter anyway because Zimmerman is not required to obey the commands of a police dispatcher even if they had instructed such a thing.
But to hang your hat on the supposed command uttered by the dispatcher, then when it's pointed out it's not a command at all, to brush it off as semantics... amazing.
You are correct but I was trying to be generous to cops.
Then, for some reason, you link an article stating that "sources say" Zimmerman "could be charged with a hate crime if evidence surfaces that the shooting was motivated by racial bias".
Where does any of this constitute probable cause to conclude Zimmerman committed a crime?
Seriously, I mean this. Take a step back for a second. Discard all the "depictions". It's just PERSON A and PERSON B. This "kid" and "skittles" and "community meeting slideshow" stuff is not relevant to whether or not a crime has been committed.
Regardless of anything else that occurred, answer this question, to yourself, and honestly:
Is it probable, based upon the evidence, that at the time Zimmerman fired at Martin, he did not reasonably fear death or serious bodily injury from Martin's attacks?
I remind you he was on his back, and screaming for help for at least 10-20 seconds, with Martin atop him and hitting him.
Can you say it is more likely than not and, indeed, probable that he was not in fear?
If you can answer yes to that question, then there's no use in continuing the discussion with you, because we will never agree on any of this.
Something that I haven’t seen addressed that I think should be noted, having lived in several gated communities-
I didn’t do Neighborhood Watch, but I certainly new what kids lived in my neighborhood. I saw them out playing and walking to and from school. I would have certainly noticed a young man that didn’t live there and especially if he had to circumvent the gate because the kids that lived in the neighborhood used the gate code or a key. A large, 17 year old I didn’t know circumventing the gate after dark would definitely be suspicious regardless of race.
““Zimmerman was a wanna-be cop, overzealous and always suspicious. Over 40 previous 911 calls.”
Over SIX years?
YOU decide he was a wannabe cop?
YOU decide he was overzealous?
Thanks for your opinion......
*Sigh*
Was the survivor open carrying? I doubt it.
In any case, your response is nonsense.
If you don’t believe being beaten by someone with their bare hands doesn’t justify using whatever force is necessary to stop said beating, you are delusional. That includes deadly force, period.
No stupid nonsensical “warning shot” or “shoot at a non life threatening spot” or whatever other gibberish you can come up with. Hollywood caricatures are purely for entertainment. If you have to use a firearm to defend yourself, you aim at center mass, of if in close proximity, a head shot or whatever you can shoot at, quickly and to the point.
You may not understand that, nor even agree with it, but it is reality. Your “way” and reality are in conflict, and I will choose reality every time. If there is a law that contradicts my belief, then that law must be struck down and those who attempt to inflict such nonsensical beliefs upon Americans should be shown the door to retirement or another appropriate venue that does not govern any citizen in this country, IMO.
Ideal sweatshirt weather
I agree that the dispatcher may not have had the legal authority to tell Zimmerman to cease and desist.
However the dispatcher still speaks with the Voice of Authority.
Most people, when told by a 911 dispatcher not to do something, won’t do it.
What’s so hard to understand?
Someone's guilt (or innocence) is going to be decided by an online weather report?
Really, jackass?
There are reports that he was on top of Zimmerman, pummeling him with his fists when he was shot.
The “racist” ain’t Jwalsh07. It’s you.
Thanks for the info.
Looking at that scenario, it is equally as likely that when Zimmerman asked what he was doing around there, Martin turned and bolted and his headset fell off.
We just don’t know.
Do a little research... From the Miami Herald:
Over the years, his scores of calls to police showed he pursued shoplifters and errant drivers with zeal, reporting pit bulls, potholes, children playing in the street, open garage doors and “suspicious” youths — usually black males — loitering in the street.
He peppered his calls with jargon familiar to police. In one case, he chased a reckless driver while calling 911 — the driver later told police he was terrified that Zimmerman was going to attack him. In another case, Zimmerman tailed a supermarket shoplifter until a police officer successfully arrested the thief.
On the night of Feb. 26, he tailed Trayvon Martin through the Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated community where Zimmerman lived with his wife, describing his every move to a dispatcher who told him he didn’t need to follow the young man. A scuffle ensued and Zimmerman shot Trayvon dead. Zimmerman claims self-defense.
Dr. Laurence Miller, a Palm Beach County clinical psychologist who works with local police agencies, said he believes Zimmerman likely was acting out the “whole TV cop role in his head” when he confronted Trayvon.
“A lot of people like the power and control that law enforcement officers have but with that comes a tremendous amount of responsibility,” Miller said, pointing out that a police officer is the only profession that can use “coercive physical force” or lethal force to subdue a suspected criminal.
“People act like cowboys and like the power, but not the responsibility.”
...His prior contacts with the law would have given police agencies pause.
In 2005, according to an arrest report, a state agent arrested Zimmerman for battery on a law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. According to the report, agents with Florida’s Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco division were arresting several employees near the University of Central Florida.
Agent Paul Fleishman wrote that Zimmerman walked up to a pal under arrest and began chatting, refusing to leave. Zimmerman cursed him, Fleishman wrote, before pushing him and causing a “short struggle.”
The charge was later dropped when Zimmerman entered a “pre-trial diversion” program, which is not unusual for first-time offenders. The program usually entails paying fines and taking classes for anger management.
Zimmerman — in applying to enter the citizens’ police academy — later disputed the official version of the event, insisting that the agent never identified himself. “I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regaurd [sic] as I hope to one day become. I would never have touched a police officer,” Zimmerman wrote.
Before the case was resolved, he was also involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-fiancée, hair salon employee Veronica Zauzo.
Zauzo claimed Zimmerman was trolling her neighborhood to check on her. At her apartment, they spoke for about an hour when she asked him to leave. He asked for some photos and paperwork and she refused.
A pushing match ensued and her dog jumped up and bit him on the cheek, Zauzo claimed. Zimmerman, in a petition filed the next day, painted her as the aggressor, wanting him to stay the night.
“She accused me of going to another woman’s house or going to party,” wrote Zimmerman, who said Zauzo slapped, clawed and choked him.
In their petitions, both included previous allegations of violence. In the end, an Orange County circuit judge ordered them to stay away from each other for more than a year, according to court records. No charges were filed.
His domestic troubles continued in October 2007, when Zimmerman called police to report that the tires of his Dodge Durango were slashed and he suspected his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.
The man denied the claim and told officers he was so annoyed by text-message exchanges with Zimmerman that he was mulling a restraining order. None was filed, according to Seminole County records.
...Over the years, records show, Zimmerman worked selling insurance, for which he earned a vocational certificate from Seminole State College.
He also worked briefly at a CarMax auto dealership, where his paycheck was garnished because of a credit-card debt.
Several years ago, Zimmerman and his wife moved into the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a multi-ethnic community that had been plagued by burglaries in recent months.
Zimmerman, according to neighbors, stepped up to organize the community watch, patrolling the neighborhood while walking his dog, toting his Kel Tek 9mm semiautomatic handgun, for which he held a concealed weapons permit.
One resident told The Miami Herald that Zimmerman implored her husband to arm himself. Another neighbor, Frank Taffee, who has frequently supported Zimmerman to the media, said Zimmerman thwarted a burglary.
His next-door neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Zimmerman always chatted with her in Spanish and was polite, once warning her husband to move his car lest it get towed from a prohibited sidewalk space.
“I feel bad that people are talking about him,” she said. “I don’t think he’s a bad person.”
...“In law enforcement, you always run into people who speak to you in cop jargon, in a way that you can tell they are some kind of frustrated cop,” Moss said. “For the most part, they are harmless and just love police officers, but sometimes, these conversations can be alarming.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/23/v-print/2712299/george-zimmerman-self-appointed.html#storylink=cpy
Read the whole article... it tells of his brush with the law and his wanna-be delusions. Then you tell me, do you really want this guy roaming your neighborhood with a gun?
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