Teenager killed by neighborhood watch captain

Read a couple other stories. The "watch Captain" needs to be arrested for murder.
He stalked assaulted and shot the kid. The kid was unarmed.
 
Read a couple other stories. The "watch Captain" needs to be arrested for murder.
He stalked assaulted and shot the kid. The kid was unarmed.

Nah, local PD will give him a few high fives give him a badge and a bigger gun and put him back to work, I mean to protect the people........:rolleyes:
 
How come they didn't arrest the guy? So one can just say it was in self defense and get away with it?
 
Florida: Neighborhood watch captain shoots unarmed teen and goes free

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...trayvon-martin_n_1335984.html?ref=mostpopular

An attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch captain in an Orlando, Fla., suburb, said police withheld the shooter's violent past from the slain youth's family.

Police initially told Martin’s family that George Zimmerman, 28, admitted to shooting Martin, 17, on Feb. 26, after he called 911 and reported a suspicious person, said the attorney, Benjamin Crump. Zimmerman said the shooting was in self-defense, police said.

Zimmerman, who is white, has not been charged in the death of Martin, who was black. Police in Sanford, where the shooting occurred, told Martin’s family that Zimmerman had a “squeaky-clean” record and that’s why they had not arrested him, according to Tracy Martin, the teen’s father.

Crump said public records show that Zimmerman was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

“They just lied to the family,” Crump said. “They just couldn’t see why [Zimmerman] would do anything wrong or be violent. But not only do you know the guy killed this kid, because he admitted to it, you knew that he has a propensity for violence because of his past record.”

The Orange County Clerk of Courts website shows a man named George Zimmerman, 28, was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. The charges appear to have been dropped.

An email to Sanford Chief Bill Lee was not immediately returned on Friday evening. A phone number for Zimmerman has been disconnected. He could not be reached for comment.

In an interview with HuffPost on Thursday, Tracy Martin said that when he asked police why Zimmerman hadn't been charged, officers told him "they respected [Zimmerman's] background, that he studied criminal justice for four years and that he was squeaky clean." He continued: "My question to them was, did they run my child's background check? They said yes. I asked them what they came up with, and they said nothing. So I asked if Zimmerman had a clean record, did that give him the right to shoot and kill an unarmed kid?"

Crump has asked law enforcement officials to turn over the 911 tapes recorded the night Martin was killed. He has since filed a public records lawsuit to get the recordings.

The teenager was on his way back from a convenience store during halftime of the NBA All-Star game when Zimmerman began following him in his car, police said.

Chief Lee on Thursday said that Zimmerman called 911 and reported a suspicious person. “For some reason he felt that Trayvon, the way that he was walking or appeared, seemed suspicious to him,” Lee told HuffPost. “He called this in and at one part of this initial call [the dispatcher] recommends him not to follow Trayvon. A police officer is on the way at that point.”

Lee said Zimmerman instead followed Martin. A confrontation ensued, and soon after he shot the teen, the chief said.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/17/trayvon-martin-killing-yo_n_1355795.html?ref=mostpopular

SANFORD, Fla. -- Austin McLendon hasn't been the same since that night three Sundays ago when Trayvon Martin was killed.

His mother says he's been arguing with his siblings more than usual. His 8th grade teachers have called home saying that he's become angry and lax in his schoolwork. He seems stressed out, distracted and consumed, they say.

Austin was standing less than 20 yards away from Martin when he was shot on the night of February 26. He didn't see much that night, but says he can't shake the screams for help that he heard or the thunderclap of gunfire that nearly shook him from his shoes.

The screams rattle around in his daydreams, so loud at night that sleep hasn't come easily. And he can't stop asking himself a thousand what-ifs: What if he could have stopped it? What if he had looked "suspicious" that night, and not Martin?

"I picture myself back over where I saw it, and it sticks in the back of my mind," McLendon told HuffPost Black Voices on Saturday afternoon at his family's home. "Sometimes I'll, like, not be listening to the teacher, and I'll daydream or just think off about it. I've been feeling bad for him and his family."

According to police, George Zimmerman, 28, the self-appointed captain of the Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch, has admitted that he shot and killed Martin, 17, who Zimmerman described as "suspicious" in a 911 call made shortly before the shooting. He told the police that he shot the teen, who had come up from Miami a week or so earlier to visit his father, in self-defense. The police said he was licensed to carry the 9mm pistol he was carrying the night of the shooting. Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged in the killing.

"They still haven't arrested him yet," Austin said, his chin tucked low. "That's pretty much the main thing that's upsetting me."

Few of his friends at school understand why he's so upset.

"Not many middle school kids watch the news," he said.

Meanwhile, Martin's family and a growing legion of supporters across the country have taken to national television news programs, Facebook and Twitter and organized petition drives, rallies and protests calling for Zimmerman's arrest. More than 285,220 people have signed one petition on the Change.org website. Some say the handling of the case comes on the heels of a string of racially charged incidents that have further strained relations between the black community and the police...
 
Personally i dont like the whole "sign a petition" and get the case heard system. There should be no place in the justice system for popular vote.

That said, the Zimmerman guy sounds like a wackjob. These neighbourhood watch folks often remind me of the character Anthony Kiedis and Flea Play in the movie The Chase. THey always do more harm than good.


 
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It get's more egregious. Narcotics cops questioning witnesses, as opposed to homocide detectives, and leading their statements. 'Watch Captain' Zimmerman supposedly slurring his words on 911 tapes, yet, no toxicology testing was done. Oh, and better yet...he was a cop wanna be.

In this world things go like this....

Cops
Family of cops
Friends of cops

Everyone else.
 
My best guess this Zimmerman fellow walked up all wide-armed and ready to the other one like he was the commanding Sheriff of the Suburbs, and when the kid told him where to go in response to the approach, he in turn responded as you could predict a person with Zimmerman's attitude would. He went out of his way to escalate the situation, then in the end he shot the other guy.

I am going to reserve judgement on the race aspect had all to do with it though, that could be or could not. The kid was of course also suffering under that other dangerous social "crime." He was a teenager.
You can't have those out after 5, of course.

I wouldn't feel safe with this guy at that age if I was purple and it was noon. I'd say he thinks like he's some hero.

It is stated in the article that he reported him as a suspicious person before it happened. My bet would be that guy's definition of suspicious person would of been,
anyone but him outdoors at the time. Didn't even question the person before he called in.

All the signs point toward that Zimmerman was looking for a fight, and trying to push for one if one was there to be had. Might not of premeditatively wanted to shoot him but he did want to do what lead to it.

That all is just pure personal speculation by the way.
I'm not on a jury for this one, so I'll reserve some right to be a little more hypothetical based on the provided information, and guess. Could be completely wrong.
 
It get's more egregious. Narcotics cops questioning witnesses, as opposed to homocide detectives, and leading their statements. 'Watch Captain' Zimmerman supposedly slurring his words on 911 tapes, yet, no toxicology testing was done. Oh, and better yet...he was a cop wanna be.

In this world things go like this....

Cops
Family of cops
Friends of cops

Everyone else.
Well I'm glad my brothers and cousin are in LE.

Btw, this guy needs to be arrested. This stinks to high heaven...
 
Just to be fair, here, the fact that Zimmerman was charged with a crime against a cop (for which there appears to be no accompanying primary charge) does NOT constitute evidence of anything -- especially since the charges were apparently dropped, which indicates that everyone from cop to judge recognized the charges as erroneous.

That's not to say that the shooting was valid. I only mean to indicate that using a usually trumped up default charge, particularly when it was dropped, to impeach someone's character is probably the wrong way to go.
 
Personally i dont like the whole "sign a petition" and get the case heard system. There should be no place in the justice system for popular vote.

I don't think the power should rest in the hands of the DA or the police either. The aggrieved party ought to be able to get a grand jury seated (or something). I suspect the reason Zimmerman hasn't been charged is because he wasn't arrested on the scene. With the same facts and an arrest, the DA would press for first-degree murder. With no arrest, there is little politcal pressure to charge him. Plus, they have to address the question, "if he's so guilty, why didn't you arrest him?". There is a lot of internal and political pressure to defend whatever decision is made on the scence where facts may be fresh but are usually incomplete. The DAs wants the political support of the police chiefs and unions.

Citizens should be able to get public officers and employees tried for criminal offenses. Begging justice from the people who wronged you is perverse.
 
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