We don’t know what happened that night. If we take his story… which is the only story we have, then he called the police and was on his way back to his truck after checking street signs when he was confronted. But regardless of what happened, the law didn’t start until the first swing. Had Trayvon simply said “Stop following me, I live right over there” then he may still be alive. But he had to be the ‘badass’ and start a fight. Z was doing his job as a neighborhood watch captain. He was watching the neighborhood. But it didn’t matter if he even found Trayvon and called him every name in the book… he did NOTHING illegal up to the confrontation. Trayvon made it criminal when he hit Z in the face breaking his nose. There is no law against following someone in a public place.
This video goes over the evidence and the law very well. It’s long but the important parts are in the very beginning. [ame=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF-Ax5E8EJc”]The Truth About George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin - YouTube[/ame]
What are the odds of Zimmerman dying in the hands of the 17 year old fight?
Slim to none.
Even IF he was jumped and attacked by the kid… and even if the kid was beating him… what was going to happen? He would have left the situation all beat up.
It was a 99.9% NOT a life or death choice. He panicked and shot the kid.
In the United States, stand-your-ground law states that a person may justifiably use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of an unlawful threat, without an obligation to retreat first. The concept sometimes exists in statutory law and sometimes through common law precedents. One key distinction is whether the concept only applies to defending a home or vehicle, or whether it applies to all lawfully occupied locations. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the “stand your ground” law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit. The difference between immunity and a defense is that an immunity bars suit, charges, detention and arrest. A defense, such as an affirmative defense, permits a plaintiff or the state to seek civil damages or a criminal conviction but may offer mitigating circumstances that justify the accused’s conduct.
He felt threatened, panicked, shot the kid.
Maybe he went after him (followed the kid), maybe he didnt. No one knows.
It doesn’t matter how you slice it. Where you initiate the fight our not you need to weigh the consequences. You never know what your opponent is going to do our if they have a weapon legal or illegal. Z may have been wrong for following this kid, but one of his jobs was being suspicious of everyone just like a LEO. No one should have died but as I said you risk your life/well-being when starting into a situation like the one that happened from either side. There’s too many arguments to go either way but bottom line is that you have the right to defend yourself even if it’s self inflicted.
Seriously? People have died from less injuries than Zimmerman had. And if you take Zims word (no evidence saying otherwise), when he was trying to get onto the grass (grass stains on his jacket proved this to be true) it revealed his gun. At this point Martin reached for his gun threatening to use it. Even if that wasn’t true, it is entirely possible and likely that Martin was going to beat him to death. Slim to none is far from the truth.
Even if he didn’t die, is he supposed to live his life completely brain dead just so this thug could live to do this again next time… or possible kill someone next time? I don’t care if he was black, white, blue, red, etc… when he made the choice to be a thug and start beating up on an older man, he should have weighed the consequences of the outcome. Yes it sucks that someone died, but why should Zim have been the one dead???
This is a major ‘What If’, but what if Trayvon was planning on burglarizing a house in the neighborhood and happened to kill someone during the robbery? The cops wouldn’t have handled shit. They would have showed up long after he was gone. It was Zim’s duty as the neighborhood watch captain to assist the police in any way possible. Someone walking in the pouring rain between houses was sketchy and he had every right to be suspicious regardless of race. That didn’t give Trayvon the right to be a thug and start beating on Zim. If Zim knew that all this would have happened, then maybe he wouldn’t have followed Trayvon at all, but hindsight is 20/20… how was he supposed to know that Trayvon was going to confront him and start smashing his head against the concrete.
But none of that matters. The crime started at the physical altercation. Everything that happened before that was 100% legal.
You seem certain that Zimmerman would have been killed by a 17 year old he just met 3 minutes ago through an altercation through a brawl? You live in some fantasy world.
How many 17 year olds you think randomly, single highhandedly attack and murder adults by hand that they’ve never met before?
Throughout history? I’ll say none.
It would have been a brawl and as soon as Zimmerman would give up the chase the “thug” would run away.
If it goes to the fact that Zimmerman was in danger of being killed by his own weapon, well then he’s even a bigger idiot than I originally thought.
It was his duty to watch the neighborhood and assist the police up to confrontation… which as far as we know he never did (according to reports, Trayvon confronted Zim). I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree, but I would NEVER risk my life with an assumption of ‘he probably won’t kill me’. Sorry, I’m going to defend myself however I see fit.
I don’t necessarily agree with Zimmerman following Martin but of course I wasn’t there to see what was happening, but I also don’t agree with just calling the police and turning a blind eye when you see something.
You guys are nuts, I’m pretty positive that when I was 17, I could beat the shit out of my 31 yr old self currently. I was WAY more aggressive, in shape, much stronger and didn’t have any priorities, family, house, kids etc…could go on.
I’d of shot him. Ive seen people get punched in the face one time and have half their face get caved it. Someones smashing my head against the ground with intent to do that much harm to me, better fuckin believe theyre getting shot. Zimmerman called cops and followed from a distance. Homeboy felt tough and didnt like what was happening and got shot.
So I guess since this country is full of idiots with guns… only thing to do is to put cameras everywhere so when shit goes down, we can get the real story since dead men can’t talk.