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More about Trayvon Martin
Just read the Times article from yesterday, and just watched this video, and now I'm even more outraged. Fact I didn't know before? Trayvon weighed all of 140 lbs. Still trying to figure out how Zimmerman felt that his life was endangered by a kid weighing 140 lbs and carrying a bag of skittles and a can of iced tea.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Il9aiaFBI&feature=related
911 Calls Add Detail to Debate Over Florida Killing
By LIZETTE ALVAREZPublished: March 17, 2012
MIAMI ? It was raining the night of Feb. 26 when George Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer, set out to patrol his neighborhood in his sport utility vehicle, as was his habit in recent weeks. Several break-ins had been reported in the area, and Mr. Zimmerman was especially alert.
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- Charles M. Blow: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin (March 17, 2012)
He spotted a young black teenager wearing a sweatshirt, with the hood draped over his head. Mr. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic man, trailed him a bit. Then he called 911, the first of seven calls from Mr. Zimmerman and panicked neighbors that begin to flesh out the details in the death of Trayvon Martin, 17, whom Mr. Zimmerman shot. The police released the recordings to local reporters late Friday night after nearly three weeks of pressure from Trayvon?s parents and their supporters.
The 911 calls from a gated community in Sanford, north of Orlando, culminate with a faint voice in the distance crying and pleading for help. A gunshot is heard, and then silence. Mr. Zimmerman told the police that he had shot Trayvon in self-defense, after the two got into a fight and Mr. Zimmerman wound up on the ground. There have been no arrests in the case. The unarmed teenager, who carried Skittles and a can of iced tea, was walking to the home of his father?s girlfriend from a convenience store.
?This guy looks like he?s up to no good or on drugs or something,? Mr. Zimmerman told dispatch, in his initial call. ?It?s raining and he?s just walking around, looking about.? Mr. Zimmerman continued: ?He?s here now just looking at all the houses. Now he?s just staring at me.? Then he added a second later: ?He?s coming to check me out. He?s got something in his hands. I don?t know what his deal is. Can you get an officer over here??
Then he got out of the car with his licensed 9-millimeter pistol, and a worried dispatcher asked: ?Are you following him? O.K., you don?t need to do that.?
At that point, Trayvon ran, and Mr. Zimmerman continued to follow. The dispatcher told him to wait for the police. A suggestion was made that Mr. Zimmerman and the police should meet by a mailbox. But then Mr. Zimmerman changed his mind. ?Actually, could you have him call me and I?ll tell him where I?m at.?
The next spate of calls came from anxious neighbors. A faint cry for help and terrified howls can be heard in the background. Neighbors said they had seen two men nearby in the dark. They reported hearing a gunshot.
?A guy yelled, ?Help! Oh, my God,? ? one man told the dispatcher. ?There is two guys in the backyard with flashlights. There is a black guy down and it looks like he?s been shot and he?s dead.?
One caller said: ?I think they?re yelling help, but I don?t know. Send someone quickly, please.?
It is not clear from the audio whether one or two shots was fired. And, with the voice muffled in the distance, it is difficult to know which of the two men is crying out for help.
The police told The Orlando Sentinel on Friday that they believed the voice crying for help was Mr. Zimmerman?s. They say that prosecutors have told them they do not have enough evidence to dispute Mr. Zimmerman?s claim that he acted in self-defense. Florida affords people who act in self-defense greater protection than most states, allowing them to take action if they have a reasonable fear that their lives are in peril. The case was turned over to the state attorney?s office last week.
?That is the circumstance we are dealing with: If we arrest, we open ourselves to a lawsuit,? Sgt. Dave Morgenstern, a spokesman with the Sanford Police Department, said. ?I would have to say I don?t think we have conducted a racially biased investigation at all.?
Sergeant Morgenstern said that Mr. Zimmerman was in contact with the police and was cooperating with the investigation. In a letter to The Orlando Sentinel last week, Mr. Zimmerman?s father said that his son had black relatives and friends and was not the aggressor in the case.
Mr. Zimmerman, who is studying criminal justice, was arrested once in 2005 on charges of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence. The charges were dropped.
Trayvon had no criminal record. He was suspended from his Miami high school for 10 days in February, which is the reason he was visiting his father. The family said the suspension was not for violent or criminal behavior but for a violation of school policy.
Representative Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat, and Sanford?s mayor, Jeff Triplett, have joined the parents? request for a Department of Justice investigation.
Trayvon?s parents say they have no doubt that it is their son?s voice pleading for his life in the background. They say they can imagine Trayvon reacting with fright or concern upon seeing a burly stranger trailing him in his car, then getting out to follow him.
?I listened to the tapes and it just broke my heart again to hear him screaming out for help and pleading for his life, and he was still murdered,? said Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon?s mother. ?There is no question in my mind that is his voice.?
"You don't get to be all puke-face about your kid shooting your undead baby daddy when all you had to do was KEEP HIM IN THE FLUCKING HOUSE, LORI!" - doctorwho
Re: More about Trayvon Martin
Also, this one:
The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin
By CHARLES M. BLOWPublished: March 16, 2012
?He said that Tray was gone.?
Damon Winter/The New York Times
Charles M. Blow
Go to Columnist Page ?
Related News
Justice Department Investigation Is Sought in Florida Teenager?s Shooting Death (March 17, 2012)
Courtesy of Sybrina Fulton
Trayvon Martin
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That?s how Sybrina Fulton, her voice full of ache, told me she found out that her 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin, had died. In a wrenching telephone call, the boy?s father, who had taken him to visit a friend, told her that Trayvon had been gunned down in a gated townhouse community in Sanford, Fla., outside Orlando.
?He said, ?Somebody shot Trayvon and killed him.? And I was like, ?Are you sure?? ? Fulton continued in disbelief. ?I said ?How do you know that?s Trayvon?? And he said because they showed him a picture.?
That was Feb. 27, one day after Trayvon was shot. The father thought that he was missing, according to the family?s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, but the boy?s body had actually been taken to the medical examiner?s office and listed as a John Doe.
The father called the Missing Persons Unit. No luck. Then he called 911. The police asked the father to describe the boy, after which they sent officers to the house where the father was staying. There they showed him a picture of the boy with blood coming out of his mouth.
This is a nightmare scenario for any parent, and the events leading to Trayvon?s death offer little comfort ? and pose many questions.
Trayvon had left the house he and his father were visiting to walk to the local 7-Eleven. On his way back, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain, who was in a sport-utility vehicle. Zimmerman called the police because the boy looked ?real suspicious,? according to a 911 call released late Friday. The operator told Zimmerman that officers were being dispatched and not to pursue the boy.
Zimmerman apparently pursued him anyway, at some point getting out of his car and confronting the boy. Trayvon had a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman had a 9 millimeter handgun.
The two allegedly engaged in a physical altercation. There was yelling, and then a gunshot.
When police arrived, Trayvon was face down in the grass with a fatal bullet wound to the chest. Zimmerman was standing with blood on his face and the back of his head and grass stains on his back, according to The Orlando Sentinel.
Trayvon?s lifeless body was taken away, tagged and held. Zimmerman was taken into custody, questioned and released. Zimmerman said he was the one yelling for help. He said that he acted in self-defense. The police say that they have found no evidence to dispute Zimmerman?s claim.
One other point: Trayvon is black. Zimmerman is not.
Trayvon was buried on March 3. Zimmerman is still free and has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
Yet the questions remain: Why did Zimmerman find Trayvon suspicious? Why did he pursue the boy when the 911 operator instructed him not to? Why did he get out of the car, and why did he take his gun when he did? How is it self-defense when you are the one in pursuit? Who initiated the altercation? Who cried for help? Did Trayvon?s body show evidence of a struggle? What moved Zimmerman to use lethal force?
This case has reignited a furor about vigilante justice, racial-profiling and equitable treatment under the law, and it has stirred the pot of racial strife.
As the father of two black teenage boys, this case hits close to home. This is the fear that seizes me whenever my boys are out in the world: that a man with a gun and an itchy finger will find them ?suspicious.? That passions may run hot and blood run cold. That it might all end with a hole in their chest and hole in my heart. That the law might prove insufficient to salve my loss.
That is the burden of black boys in America and the people that love them: running the risk of being descended upon in the dark and caught in the cross-hairs of someone who crosses the line.
The racial sensitivity of this case is heavy. Trayvon?s parents have said their son was murdered. Crump, the family?s lawyer, told me, ?You know, if Trayvon would have been the triggerman, it?s nothing Trayvon Martin could have said to keep police from arresting him Day 1, Hour 1.? Even the police chief recognizes this reality, even while disputing claims of racial bias in the investigation: ?Our investigation is color blind and based on the facts and circumstances, not color. I know I can say that until I am blue in the face, but, as a white man in a uniform, I know it doesn?t mean anything to anybody.?
Zimmerman has not released a statement, but his father delivered a one-page letter to The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the statement said that Zimmerman is ?Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family.? The paper quotes the letter as reading, ?He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever? and continues, ?The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth.? And disclosures made since the shooting complicate people?s perception of fairness in the case.
According to Crump, the father was told that one of the reasons Zimmerman wasn?t arrested was because he had a ?squeaky clean? record. It wasn?t. According to the local news station WFTV, Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for ?battery on a law enforcement officer.?
Furthermore, ABC News reported on Tuesday that one of the responding officers ?corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.? And The Miami Herald published an article on Thursday that said three witnesses had heard the ?desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.?
WFTV also reported this week that the officer in charge of the scene when Trayvon was shot was also in charge of another controversial case. In 2010, a lieutenant?s son was videotaped attacking a black homeless man. The officer?s son also was not initially arrested in that case. He was later arrested when the television station broke the news.
Although we must wait to get the results from all the investigations into Trayvon?s killing, it is clear that it is a tragedy. If no wrongdoing of any sort is ascribed to the incident, it will be an even greater tragedy.
One of the witnesses was a 13-year-old black boy who recorded a video for The Orlando Sentinel recounting what he saw. The boy is wearing a striped polo shirt, holding a microphone, speaking low and deliberately and has the heavy look of worry and sadness in his eyes. He describes hearing screaming, seeing someone on the ground and hearing gunshots. The video ends with the boy saying, ?I just think that sometimes people get stereotyped, and I fit into the stereotype as the person who got shot.?
And that is the burden of black boys, and this case can either ease or exacerbate it.
"You don't get to be all puke-face about your kid shooting your undead baby daddy when all you had to do was KEEP HIM IN THE FLUCKING HOUSE, LORI!" - doctorwho
Did you also know that Zimmerman outweighed him by 100 pounds?
The investigation so far sounds like an utter disgrace.
~Benjamin Franklin
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He looks really small to me for 17 as well.
I joke with my husband sometimes about him "fitting the profile" but it frightens me somewhat to think that I will have to raise a black son to be aware of things like this.
The picture doesn't seem that old. He looks like a typical teenager to me- Holister shirt and all.
As the mom of a black boy, this is my ultimate fear that when he is out in the world people will always perceive him as a threat. It is the fear that grips me when I think about all of the black men in my life. Zimmerman felt justified in handling someone he viewed as a suspicious person and really the only thing suspicious/feared was his race. Disgusting.
Oh my. He had such a babyface.
I cannot even imagine how his family has refrained from going completely psychotic on that entire town. It's not even just about the guy who killed him anymore- there's obviously a systemic effort involved in allowing this to happen. Disgusting.
This story really depresses me. That poor kid. The 28 year old brought a gun to a SKITTLE FIGHT. Seriously? How can you even POSSIBLY claim self defense when the kid didn't have a weapon and the 28 year old outweighed him by 100 pounds? THis is just horrible. Zimmerman has not been arrested because the kid was black. Full stop. Of course he ran away... a man was following him and got out of his truck WITH A GUN. Anyone would run away. When Zimmerman chased him down, Trayvon probably pushed him away and he fell over (hence the grass stains), then Zimmerman shot him. He murdered that child in cold blood.
FLorida should be ashamed of itself.
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He looks more like a 17 year old in the picture here.
You can also listen to the 911 call at that link. He sounds totally calm - it's clear to me that he followed this kid with the full intention of picking a fight with him.
I am so disgusted and appalled by this whole thing.
Zimmerman KILLS a 17 year old a gets away with it. So far. I am hoping that after Friday's release of 911 tapes, Zimmerman gets arrested. He IS NOT A COP and had NO RIGHT to follow/talk to/approach Trayvon. He was apparently going door to door "announcing" that he was the new watch captain. Really? Loser. a man in the neighborhood told Zimmerman to get away from his home because, well, what would you do if Z came knocking on your door saying he was the watch captain? What a joke.
I listened to all the 911 calls-from Z and neighbors. It is chilling. In one call, Z says" all these azzzzholes get away". I HOPE that the SAO lets justice prevail. We already had one case in Florida that made our state more of a joke, we don't need this.
I wanted to listen because George Z dad (Robert) wrote to the Orlando Sentinel saying that the 911 tapes were going to clear my son of any wrongdoing and that the media and public who think he is a killler are going to be very surprised when they hear they tapes. So I listened, thinking that maybe, just maybe, Zimmerman was attacked or approached by Trayvon. Well, Robert Zimmerman, sorry, but.....
The thing that gets me, is of course there would be some altercation. You are approaching someone that you have been following so it's either a a) fight or flight natural response or b) Zimmeran gets out of the car with an attitude and an "I am the neighborhood captain" stance hear me roar and approached Trayvon automatically goes on defense.
I doubt very seriously he was like "Young man, what are you doing here, can I help you", but was more like "N----, WTH are you doing here, are you the guy that's been breaking in homes lately". I'd bet money, it was the latter.
He called him an aszhole on the call before even speaking to him so I'd say you're right on here.
This x 10.
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I cannot properly describe how enraged I am over this. Zimmerman belongs in JAIL the the fact that he is not there right now is a disgusting and reprehensible failure on the part of the Sanford PD.
Oh, Zimmerman has "black relatives?" Oh, well then, totally cool, bro!
This makes me see red. I am hoping that the fact that is has been handed over will result in some sort of justice. I just cannot wrap my head around someone claiming self-defense when they have killed an unarmed 17-year-old.
I don't understand any of this.
I always try to give the police the benefit of the doubt, because I think police/military/etc. get accused of misbehavior often without merit.
But this...this is just so clearly botched. I don't care what on earth Trayvon may have done to this Zimmerman guy...cussed him out, got in his face, whatever. At the end of the day, he had 100 lbs. and a WEAPON on this kid. This kid that he chose to pursue. F**K THAT. His ass should be in jail, charged AT LEAST with manslaughter.
It's disgusting. It's horrifying.
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I can't for the life of me figure out why he hasn't been charged yet. He shot and killed an unarmed kid. That is some degree of homicide offense. Arrest him already.
*edited to fix autocorrect
In other news, I just discovered my dishwasher is spying on me. Not kidding. I'm drive by posting on vaca, but google it.
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