Posted on 03/26/2012 8:43:45 AM PDT by kristinn
...Police Say
With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel.
That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.
Zimmerman has not spoken publicly about what happened, but that night, Feb. 26, and in later meetings he described and re-enacted for police what he says happened.
In his version of events, he had turned around and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from behind, the two exchanged words then Trayvon punched him in the nose, sending him to the ground, and began beating him.
Zimmerman told police he shot the teenager in self-defense.
SNIP
Police have been reluctant to provided details about all their evidence, but this is what they've disclosed to the Sentinel:
Zimmerman was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted Trayvon walking through his gated community.
Trayvon was visiting his father's fiancée, who lived there. He had been suspended from school in Miami after being found with an empty marijuana baggie. Miami schools have a zero-tolerance policy for drug possession.
Zimmerman called police and reported a suspicious person, describing Trayvon as black, acting strangely and perhaps on drugs.
Zimmerman got out of his SUV to follow Trayvon on foot. When a dispatch employee asked Zimmerman if he was following the 17-year-old, Zimmerman said yes. The dispatcher told Zimmerman he did not need to do that.
There is about a one-minute gap during which police say they're not sure what happened.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
The truth won’t come out. This is beyond the truth now. If he had a gun, and tried to shoot Zimmerman, the truth wouldn’t matter. It is in the race politics realm now, and Mr Zimmerman had better be prepared to loose everything.
He is a half Jew half Hispanic that shot a black teenager. If you wanted to incite a racial incident, that is a perfect set up.
Read the article folks, there is evidence and an eye witness.
.
Your crystal ball is cloudy.... better go back to the magic eight ball
(Not the young one that Obama said looked like his son, but the bigger, burlier older guy that he really was).
I once followed a group of black teenagers into a Korean dress shop in Manhattan where they promptly surrounded the female cashier in what I stupidly took to be a somewhat suspicious manner. It turned out they were looking for Size 2 Norma Kamali dresses! (That’s sarcasm.)
Do ANY of you freepers live where frightening black teenagers threaten, rape and murder people???
The retard poster who thinks the law is based on opinion statute.
YOU WILL FIND THAT FACTS DON’T MATTER, THE ONLY THAT MATTERS IS HATE, AND IT MUST BE KEPT FLOWIN’
was it smart of Mr Z to ignore the dispatcher and
contiinue to follow young Master M? No.
But disobeying a dispatcher is not evidence of a crime.
Was it murder? No one can say. No witness saw
a murder, nor has video has surfaced till now showing
a murder.
I don’t see how this goes anywhere except maybe an action
for ‘conspiracy to deprive him of his civil rights’, a federal beef.
And even that is a stretch, since there is no evidence of
any conspiracy.
bottom line is that there is no evidence of a crime here,
unless you count Martin’s attack on Z.
There are also conflicting witness reports. I am not willing to demonize Zimmerman as a racist thug who acted with deliberate malice in the shooting of Martin, but his account still leaves too many questions.
I am still of the opinion that he instigated a confrontation which escalated with a physical confrontation the end result being the death of Martin. Did actions by both men contribute to the death of Martin? Yes. Could this have been avoided if Zimmerman had not followed Martin? Yes.
If I am walking down the sidewalk in my neighborhood, and someone is following me in their car and then pulls over and gets out, I have the right to ask what the hell they are doing. I do NOT have the right to knock them down and bash their head repeatedly into the sidewalk unless they have acted with some kind of force against me, such as punching me or drawing a knife or a gun.
Unless it can be proven that Zimmerman grabbed Martin, threw a punch at Martin or drew on Martin unprovoked (such as to try and detain him), and therefore Martin thought he was fighting for his life against an attacker, the level of force of bashing someone's head against a sidewalk is no way proportional to someone else following you. Realize that the act of bashing someone's head against the sidewalk is and of itself an escalation to potentially deadly force.
There are still a lot of big 'ifs' here, we're getting dribs and drabs. I am not ruling out that the level of force Martin used was excessive if we find out something more in the coming days about what happened in that minute or so where the cops seem to have a gap. But unless we hear something that we have not heard to date, my opinion is that Marin used deadly force and it rose to the level of excessive force that gave Zimmerman reasonable concern to respond with deadly force in turn - because someone can kill you bashing your head on the sidewalk.
He was part of neighborhood watch. He followed and when told to not follow he turned and started back to his vehicle. Zimmerman did EXACTLY what he should have done.
That this bothers you tells me I may not want you as a neighbor. I pay close attention to who is in our neighborhood. If someone looks dicey I follow them a short distance just so they know people pay attention. I do not confront I do not provoke. I say nothing. I merely follow on a public sidewalk.
er here in FL when someone is on the floor being punched and having your head whacked against the concrete then you have the right to defend yourself.
That is the law here , maybe not where you live, d you live in the north east by any chance?
Also could you tell me where it is illegal to get out of your car and follow someone with our FL laws?
Thank you.
Digging little deeper into the story reveals that according to police, Zimmerman was heading back to his SUV when Martin approached him from behind Words were exchanged and then Martin punched Zimmerman in the nose, breaking it and sending him to the ground. There he repeatedly slammed Zimmerman’s head into the ground and it is then that Zimmerman shot Martin the chest.
So, Zimmerman had already backed off. It was Martin who started the confrontation.
Clear of all charges IMHO.
Not it does not. But it does mean that Martin may have viewed Zimmerman as a threat.
It sounded like self defense yesterday, and that the blaxploitation hoodie marches were way out of line.
Now that I’ve heard zimmerman’s ugly racism on the 911 call, I’m thinking Zimmerman may have instigated. He may have called trayvon an ugly name. That could be why he was beat down.
Good thing your book is not the law.
It doesn’t in a court of law. He followed him, gave up following him and was headed back to his vehicle and was attacked. Hope you never served on a jury — or ever serve on one.
No rush to judgement on either side, please.
We have heard some of the statement from Zimmerman. People are jumping on this to prove self-defense.
Let’s wait for a statement from Martin... oh, that’s right, he’s dead.
So that must mean that Zimmerman’s story is rock-solid truth, right????
So, let’s hold on til the investigation takes its course. Be interesting to discover trajectory of bullet, distance traveled...
The evidence won’t lie. Where’s Horatio Caine and his CSI team when needed????
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