…everyone needs to stop with the he shouldn’t have followed him bull crap for the love of god…Guess what, I can walk behind you all day if I want following you in public property till my feet bleed…that doesn’t give you the right to turn around and punch me.
I don’t know what happened noone does so making definitive statements about what did happen and passing judgment on them is silly. To me, my instict tells me the guy was following him looking out for the best intereste of where he lives, whether it was smart or not he did it, hes allowed to by law. Then I’m sure they got into an argument the kid started beating the guys ass and in turn was shot. But I, nor any of you know…
Also, people need to stop pretending a 17yo is some defensless baby, plenty of 17yos that are quite capable of putting up a fight with adult men.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the top misconceptions regarding the Trayvon Martin case.
Trayvon was a normal, well-adjusted teenager.
Seventeen-year-olds don’t normally have gold teeth, multiple tattoos, multiple school suspensions, friends publicly asking them for “plant” on their Facebooks, issues with graffiti, school problems with “burglary tools,” and so on.
Trayvon might not have been an out-and-out criminal, but he certainly wasn’t an average teen either.
What we do see is an escalating pattern of illegal behavior.
Multiple tattoos may be regarded by some as nothing beyond popular fashion, but without parental consent minors cannot get them.
Trayvon seems to have had several when he was only sixteen. Did he lie about his age or did his parents go with him when he got them?
In the last 48 hours, we’ve found out that Martin’s 10-day suspension (which was in effect at the time of his shooting) wasn’t the only time he was suspended recently.
In a few short months during his junior year in high school, Trayvon was suspended on three separate occasions, including one time when he was caught with a “burglary tool” and a bunch of jewelry that didn’t belong to him.
The Miami Herald claims that in October, he was caught with a ‘burglary tool’ – a flathead screwdriver – and <b>12 pieces of women’s jewellery</b>. Martin insisted that they did not belong to him.
Earlier, he had been suspended for skipping school and showing up late to class. And most recently, in February, he was suspended again when officials found a ‘marijuana pipe’ and an empty baggie with traces of the drug.
Certain media outlets are still spinning the story.
NPR titled yesterday’s article, “Trayvon Martin’s Life Looking Much Like Many Teens.”
From that piece:
According to the Herald, Martin was suspended from school three times in recent months, for incidents ranging from tardiness to writing graffiti on school property to having a plastic bag with marijuana residue in his backpack. He had never been arrested.
Conveniently no mention of the jewelry or the screwdriver on NPR.
There is no evidence to suggest that George Zimmerman is racist and quite a lot of evidence against it.
Zimmerman and his wife were in the big brother / big sister program and mentored two black children. That doesn’t sound like the actions of a racist to me.
His friends and family have been extremely outspoken about Zimmerman not being racist from the start. Apparently, Zimmerman grew up in a multi-cultural family and has always been anything but discriminatory.
Joe Oliver, a long-time friend of Zimmerman’s, has been conducting interviews all this week about the topic as well.
George Zimmerman wasn’t “chasing” Trayvon. Chasing someone implies you are trying to catch up to them — there’s no evidence that was Zimmerman’s intention.
Zimmerman was attempting to maintain visual contact. That is what he was supposed to do for his Neighborhood Watch, and that is what was being asked of him by the 911 dispatcher at the time.
This is supported by the 911 transcript.
Zimmerman: No you go in straight through the entrance and then you make a left…uh you go straight in, don’t turn, and make a left. Shit he’s running.
Dispatcher: He’s running? Which way is he running?
Zimmerman: Down towards the other entrance to the neighborhood.
Dispatcher: Which entrance is that that he’s heading towards?
The dispatcher was asking Zimmerman specific questions about where Martin was going, Zimmerman was answering as needed.
Every step of the way, Zimmerman complied with the 911 operator.
When he was asking for more information about the direction Martin went, Zimmerman provided it. When he said there was no need to pursue, Zimmerman stopped immediately.
Dispatcher: Are you following him?
Zimmerman: Yeah
Dispatcher: Ok, we don’t need you to do that.
Zimmerman: Ok
Dispatcher: Alright sir what is your name?
Zimmerman: George…He ran.
At this point, Zimmerman no longer has Trayvon within eyesight, and he’s no longer even attempting to look for him.
My problem with the whole thing is that zimerman saw fit to arm himself so he obviously thought he was going to put himself in a dangerous situation where he might need it. First and foremost I am a avid proponent of second amenments rights and responsible firearms ownership. Plain and simple the guy acted irresponsibly.
Was the kid an angel no, do I think Zimmerman should go to jail for life no. However there should be some kind of legal ramifications for his stupidity. There is no reason for neighborhood watch to carry firearms, thats what trained members of law enforcement are for. Private citizens should be allowed to carry for their protection only not enforcing the law.
He was using it for his own protection… He was getting beaten with his head getting smashed against concrete. If he didn’t shoot the Trayvon, when would Trayvon have stopped beating him?
Reminds me of the old saying “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.”
So, he can carry a gun, but when hes doing neighborhood watch things, and has a higher chance of coming upon some illegal activity, and possibly danger he should keep the gun home. Most people with a conceales carry permit ALWAYS carry…thats kind of the point.
What are the odds of a young punk single handedly jumping an adult male in the middle of the night?
There was no way Zimmerman was minding his own business and got jumped.
He put himself into the compromising situation by looking for trouble.
If he got jumped by a group of punks in the middle of the night I could see him shooting them all for self defense, here you go out looking for trouble, you’re gonna get it.
This. I normally try to stay out of shit like this, but the shear amount of media attention and the whole playing the race card right from the start got me heated and I actually started looking deeper into everything. And EVERYTHING that I have found that represented anything close to resembling actual evidence says that Zimmerman was justified in his actions. Everything and everybody saying otherwise seems to only be able to provide speculation or hearsay… no true evidence. Eye witness reports, sustained injuries, and even what can be heard on the 911 call all seem to confirm Zimmerman’s story.
Did I say he got jumped or that Zimmerman was minding his own business? Nope. I was simply saying that he was being beaten and then used his firearm to diffuse te situation, like ANY of us would have done. Zimmerman was lookin for trouble, that’s what neighborhood watch does. Not only that, but he was within his rights be following Trayvon. He was protecting himself after a situation escalated.
If neighborhood watch is there to create escallations that wouldn’t happen without him being there to begin with, it’s defeating the purpose of the watch. They should react to situations, not cause them.
Well Vlad, when you bring it up in conversation in a defensive manner like you did, people will assume that you were acting like they said it and were using it to prove your point (which is what exactly?).
He was not escalating the issue, he was simply instructing police on where Trayvon was going so they could find them. That’s what a neighborhood watch does. They look out for lewd behavior and then either do something to stop it, or inform police. He was doing the latter, and reacting to the situation. He didn’t confront Trayvon about it, he was confronted by Trayvon.
We can argue this til we’re blue in the face but with all the different sources out there, there’s no point in it as they’re all saying different shit and are what are turning this whole situation into the issue it has become. If they were both white or both black, this would’ve been on page 6 in the newspaper, not headline on the front page. The media has turned this into the race issue it has become, and race wasn’t even a part of the actual interaction between Trayvon and Zimmerman.
Well Chris I cant help you with what you assume, it was never said however. There was no direct point to be made as I was simply continuing the conversation based on your statement, why you decided to defend against something and see what wasn’t there is nothing I can help with.
So according to that, multiple police officers made bogus reports??? Yes its possible, but I don’t see why they would. And Zimmerman was treated at the scene for his injuries so there most likely wouldn’t be visible blood on his face.
I can’t see the video here at work unless someone can possibly embed it???
the information about trayvons record is accurate I think it speaks for itself. He didn’t like being followed and potentially caught in whatever he was doing so he fought the guy…if he felt threatened he should have made an attempt to call the police until he HAD to defend himself. Where is his 911 call saying “some random guy is following me…im running away”
Okay maybe I missed a huge piece of the puzzle here but this does not make sense. Everything I can recall hearing on the news points that zimmerman did confront trayvon which at that point supposidly trayvon threw the first hit and the rest we all know
This is saying that he chose no longer to persue him? I heard one of the police recording on the radio from this and he continued to follow him after the dispatcher told him not to.
and I swear I recall a clip being played of hearing Trayvon screaming before the gun shot went off.
The kid did not deserve to die, he should not have used his gun, maybe I’m wrong and maybe zimmerman was getting his ass kicked, but from what I’ve heard and read… I think it was excessive.
As far as the kids backgroudn goes, the jewelery bit is the only thing that seems really bad, everything else is nothing worse then most high school kids these days myself included, I skipped school constantly, I had pot on me, though I cant draw so graffiti was never a problem. I know plenty of kids just like that, that are otherwise good kids.