Man I am so conflicted with this whole Zimmerman shooting case. On one hand I have some heavy doubts about the validity of Mr. Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. On the other hand I’m appalled by the racist lynch mob being stirred up by the case. Also I’m disgusted at how many conclusions they are drawing from the VERY limited data available (such as claiming Martin can be heard crying for help in the 911 tapes, when he simply can’t, as well as putting too much faith in ear-witness reports), further the media is ignoring that Mr. Zimmerman is of Hispanic dissent, and has dark skin, and calling him “White” (which is not only misleading, but irrelevant), as well as claims of Mr. Zimmerman’s “Racism” mainly based on the 911 operator asking for a description of Mr. Martin. Also many reports fail to mention that Mr. Zimmerman was injured at the time of Police arriving.
Now there’s this hit piece which shows obvious biased. I see two VERY suspect “Facts” listed here. First cites this story:
As the controversy grows, so does the number of voices disputing the official version that watch captain George Zimmerman gave to police: that the 6-foot, 3-inch, 140-pound teen assaulted him when Zimmerman, 28, tried to question him. In fear for his life, he pulled Kel Tek .9mm handgun from his waistband and shot.
Well first they weren’t even diligent enough to run “Kel Tek .9mm” into google to find that in fact its a “Kel Tec 9mm”, its pedantic, but its also was so easy to collect, I wonder how much oversight they used in their other “Facts”.
Further in High School I was not overly thin, but I hardly had the extra body fat, nor the muscle mass I have today, and I weighed 160, and was around 6’0″ lbs. In my best shape of my life where I was working like a dog and didn’t have a lunch break to eat, so I’d usually bolt down a ham sandwich and a soda, and wouldn’t snack, I was also lifting heavy equipment constantly, I was 6’00” and weighed 175lbs.
I also worked with a guy who was 6’4″ and weighed north of 200lbs. He looked like a total bean pole. He worked on a Crew team, and until recently didn’t own a car so he biked to work every day. So he was also well muscled. That being said imagining him 30+ pounds lighter? He’d be a skeleton.
According to a BMI calculator says 6’04” 140 is a BMI of 17 which is severely underweight. Nothing is impossible, but I find it hard to believe the young boy in football pads became so thin and frail. Also his parents are making frequent news appearances, and none of them are remarkably skinny, and his father is a tall man of solid build. I suspect this is bullshit.
next this story.
But law enforcement expert Rod Wheeler who listened to the tapes tells ABC News that Zimmerman, not Martin, sounded intoxicated in the police recordings of the 911 calls.
“When I listened to the 911 tape the first thing that came to my mind is this guy sounds intoxicated. Notice how he’s slurring his words. We as trained law enforcement officers, we know how to listen for that right away and I think that’s going to be an important element of this entire investigation,” Wheeler said.
But Zimmerman was not tested.
So the police on scene questioning Mr. Zimmerman and smelling his breath and looking into his eyes and watching his body movements didn’t see anything that warranted considering Mr. Zimmerman intoxicated (and also this would warrant an arrest for a questionable shooting), but an “Expert” (credentials not cited…his race is also not mentioned, Mr. Wheeler is black) who did not know Mr. Zimmerman and only heard the distorted 911 tape decided he was intoxicated. Uh huh…
Then This:
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.
So they’re saying that lax treatment of the family of fellow Police officer’s immediate family is the same as a guy who is likely considered a pest to Law enforcement because of his constant 911 calls and his “wannabe” patrols of his neighborhood.
I wish I lived in this world, but I think we can all agree we do not.
Will you idiots STOP being so stupid? I don’t want to be defending Mr. Zimmerman! I really don’t, but you racist biased pricks are leaving me no choice!!!!
This whole issue is a mess and the truth is lost among the calls of racism.
It seems the media has already convicted Zimmerman.
Will you idiots STOP being so stupid? I don’t want to be defending Mr. Zimmerman! I really don’t, but you racist biased pricks are leaving me no choice!!!!
Amen
Yep, and honestly I don’t even know if Mr. Zimmerman didn’t justifiably shoot Mr. Martin. For all we know Mr. Martin was 6’4″ and 250lbs and was high on drugs and making visible threats.
I doubt that’s so, but I also doubt that if it was that the media would even bother reporting it. Hell there are so many “facts” in this case that have been openly contradicted or outright lied about that who knows what’s true.
All I know is Mr. Zimmerman looks HORRIBLE in this case, and also looks like the most professional one there, as well as the Police who are being smart and not allowing the court of public opinion drive their investigation.
Weerd,
I have personal history with the weight issue; I graduated high school at 6’1″ and 118#.
That isn’t a mis-type; it is One Hundred Eighteen Pounds and 6 foot 1 inch.
I was a bean pole. That being said, the few fights I was in as a teen; I was able to hold my own. Even against my brother who was 3 years older and much heavier.
I’ve been holding off on commenting on the case because I want the facts known….yeah, I realize that is a radical concept but it is just common sense to me.
The only other comment I have on the case is this “I didn’t do anything illegal or immoral; So leave my firearms and my rights alone, eh”
I’m not a self defense expert or anything, but it seems to me that on one side we have Mr. Zimmerman armed with a gun. On the other side we have Mr. Martin, a young man, who was unarmed (at least I have heard no claim of Mr Martin having a weapon. Please correct me if I’m wrong). I have likewise seen no claim that Mr. Martin was observed to be in the commission of a forcable felony. Here in Florida, forceable felony is a well defined term. IF Mr. Martin was in the commission of a forcable felony, then the kid gloves would be off and it would be open season; but that is not what is being claimed. Last I looked, being “suspicious” is not a forcable felony. That leaves disparity of force. If Mr. Zimmerman can show that Mr. Martin was so much more powerful than him that he had no choice but to shoot him to save his own life or prevent great harm, Mr. Zimmerman would have a claim of disparity of force. I have seen this work, but in that case, it was a small sickly guy who shot a large weight lifter in the back with a .25 auto (as the weight lifter was walking away. Personally, I thought the jury got that one wrong). This case doesn’t seem to be such a case as both men seem to be within the relm of “average”. On top of all that, Mr. Zimmerman was in a car, and exited said car of his own free will*, presumably to confront Mr. Martin. I understand that Stand Your Ground means that you don’t have to run away from a threat and that you can meet said threat with deadly force if deadly force is warranted. However, I’m not sure that Stand Your Ground applies when you actively search-out someone who may or may not have been doing anything wrong.
I’m not saying he’s definately guilty, I’m just saying it doesn’t look good.
On a side note, one person I know posited the idea that the police may be dragging their feet on this one specifically to damage the popularity of the Stand Your Ground law. With a seemingly guilty defendant, and the cops walking around shrugging their shoulders saying “We can’t do anything because of Stand Your Ground” it sure looks like it would be an effective ploy.
s
*That the 911 operator may have told Mr. Zimmerman not to exit his car is irrelavent. A 911 operator has no legal authority to tell you what to do (as far as I know) and there are times when doing what the 911 op says can get you killed so giving them such power is not a good idea.
Hey just thought of something —
Mr. Zimmerman was just playing his part in the whole “See something Say Something” hoopla.
I’m sure he just exited his car to get a better look at what he was reporting to the police.
I’m holding off commenting on the case in general because I DON’T have enough of the facts (and having worked in customer service I’ve been accused of racism more times than I can count cause I tried to HELP the idiot in question, who just happened to be black, save time….but oh no, I tried to send them to someone else instead of assisting them myself, therefor I was racist). BUT, one of the articles I saw DID have a picture of the kid, and I can believe the weight/height figures, not a particularly sturdily built teenager at all.
Oh, and I was just reminded, at least two of my high school classmates were over 6ft, and didn’t weigh more than 160, one was the skinniest beanpole you ever saw and I’m pretty sure I recall him griping about being 145 my senior year (he still hasn’t filled out much 15yrs later, though his dad is much sturdier), the other was upper 150’s if I recall right, built just like his dad who wasn’t much heavier.