by Jack Lee
30 Mar 2012 –
Director Spike Lee has apologized for tweeting the address of David and Elaine Mclane’s home as the home of George Zimmerman. Some of Lee’s 250,000 followers have posted hostile and threatening messages.
The McClane’s have moved out of the house. Said Mrs. McClane, “I don’t even know if I have enough words. It’s past devastating. It’s scary. It’s really scary because we’re afraid for our lives.”
“He killed Trayvon martin in cold blood. This vigilante killed Trayvon Martin in cold blood when he only had a bag of skittles. He had a 9 millimeter gun and he had to concoct the story.” Benjamin Crump Attorney for Martin’s family. ( “Cold blood” means lying in wait, premeditated, any first year of law student knows that. So, I’m left to wonder…what’s his agenda? Why inflame people’s passions with false rhetoric?)
Comedian Rosanne Barr tweeted the actual address of Zimmerman’s parents saying at first it’s important that no one can hide! She had second thoughts and later removed the address saying she doesn’t believe in vigilante justice. She added that it was vigilante justice that killed Trayvon.
(Could it be that her change of heart came after somebody schooled her about the possibility of a civil suit for posting the parents address?)
This young teenager was gunned down because of how he looked, because of the color of his skin. We need to see justice in this case immediately. Congresswoman Barbara Lee-D, Texas. In some of the strongest rhetoric uttered in the two-hour CBC forum, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said, “Trayvon Martin was “executed” and that his crime was “walk[ing] while black in a gated community.” (Nice try Congressman, but this was a gated community of mixed races.)
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ENTER THE WITNESSES:
Witness (name withheld for security) reported hearing through a closed window voices from an area where residents typically walk their dogs. “I thought it was rather loud, but I had just shut my window because it had just started pouring out rain,” the witness said. “And then I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, who’s out there walking their dog in the rain?’ ”
The witness said she did not immediately look outside to see what the yelling was about. “I went and did something else, and then I heard the loud voices again,” said the witness, who reported opening the window. “It definitely was a very loud, predominant voice,” the witness said. “I couldn’t hear the words but it was like, OK, this is not a regular conversation. This is someone aggressively, you know, yelling at someone.”
The witness said she saw two men on the grass, one on top of the other. “And at that point, not looking out the window, I heard the yell for help, one yell for help, and then I heard another … excruciating type of yell. It didn’t almost sound like ‘help.’ It just sounded so painful. But I wasn’t watching out the window during that. And then the next time I looked out the window, there’s the same thing: two men on the grass, one on top of each other. I couldn’t see a lot of movement. It was very dark, but I felt like they were scuffling. And then I heard the gunshots, which, to me, were more like pops than they were like a bang.”
The witness recalled hearing more than one shot. “It definitely was more than one pop noise, so I don’t know if it was an echo or anything else. But it definitely made more than one pop.”
The witness said the shots were audible as one man was on top of the other. However, the witness recalled not being able to see clearly enough to know which man was on top because it was dark. (Note: A second witness said he saw the man with the red sweater on bottom and that would be Zimmerman.)
Within a couple of seconds after the shots, one of the men “was walking toward where I was watching, and I could see him a little bit clearer. Could see that it was a Hispanic man. He didn’t appear hurt or anything else.”
But the man, who by now had left the grass and was walking on the sidewalk, did seem worried, “with his hand up to his forehead,” the witness said. “Now, a couple of seconds later, in the dark, you see that person that’s alive walk away; you know, obviously, OK, he must’ve got up and he walked away, where the other person is still laying there, face down.”
The person who was walking away did not appear hurt, said the witness, who has told police of the incident. “You’re thinking, wow, I’m looking at the person that just shot someone,” the witness said.
George Zimmerman has told police he shot Martin in self defense.
Zimmerman’s father told CNN on Thursday that Martin threatened to kill Zimmerman and then beat him so badly Zimmerman was forced to shoot.
“Trayvon Martin said something to the effect of, ‘You’re going to die now’ or ‘You’re going to die tonight,’ something to that effect,” Robert Zimmerman told Orlando TV station WOFL. “He continued to beat George. At some point, George pulled his pistol. Did what he did.”
A surveillance video from the Sanford police headquarters the night of the incident raises questions about the description of a beating.
It shows Zimmerman, his hands cuffed, exiting a patrol car and being led into the police station. The video does not provide close-ups, but also does not show clear signs of injuries on Zimmerman.
Joe Oliver, a friend of Zimmerman’s explains, Zimmerman told him he was “cleaned up by cops at the scene” that night before being taken to the station.
Oliver also said it was discovered the next day that Zimmerman’s nose was broken.
Craig Sonner, George Zimmerman’s legal adviser, said Thursday the video does not support or contradict Robert Zimmerman’s description. It is “very grainy,” he told NBC’s “Today” show. Sonner also said the injuries Zimmerman said he suffered were “later cleaned up.”
A police report says Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head when police arrived at the scene of the killing. He was given first aid in the police car, the report says. Sonner noted that at one point in the video, an officer appears to be looking at the back of Zimmerman’s head.
Robert Zimmerman told the news station that Martin confronted his son first and pummeled his son.
“He was punched in the nose. His nose was broken,” Robert Zimmerman said. “He was knocked to the concrete. Trayvon Martin got on top of him and just started beating him. In the face. In his nose, hitting his head on the concrete.” That account appears to differ from the one provided by the witness, who said the tussle occurred on grass.
George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, said he shot Martin in self-defense after the teen attacked him. Martin, who was walking through the gated community back to the house of his father’s fiance, was wearing a hoodie in the rain and carrying Skittles candy and a can of iced tea he had purchased from a nearby convenience store.
America will have to wait and see as State Attorney Angela Corey concludes her investigation into a case charged with allegations of cold blooded murder and racism. Martin was African-American; Zimmerman is a Hispanic who, his family says, has been wrongly described as racist.
The Orlando Sentinel pieced the following part together and an account of what happened based on leaked information from investigators.
Sanford police said the newspaper account “is consistent with the information provided to the State Attorney’s office by the police department.”
Martin was visiting his father’s fiance, who lived in the gated community in Sanford, a racially mixed northern suburb of Orlando.
Zimmerman called police to report a suspicious person. He described Martin as black and said he was acting strangely and could have been on drugs.
Zimmerman said he got out of his SUV and followed Martin on foot.
“Something’s wrong with him,” he told a 911 dispatcher, according to the contents of a call released by authorities. “Yep. He’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands.”
The teenager started to run, Zimmerman said. A 911 dispatcher asked Zimmerman whether he was following Martin, and Zimmerman said he was. The dispatcher said Zimmerman did not need to do that.
Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and the back of his head, the police report said.
“I was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me,” Zimmerman told police.
By the time police arrived on the scene, Martin was dead from a gunshot wound in the chest, according to Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee. The unarmed teenager was lying face-down.
Zimmerman told police that he shot Martin. And that he did it in self-defense.
911 calls – Residents of the gated community heard the gunshot. Seven 911 calls released by authorities document their fear.
Someone screams, “help, help!” in the background.
“There were gunshots right outside my house. There’s someone screaming. I just heard a guy shot,” a neighbor says. “Hurry up, they are right outside my house.”
“Hurry, please. … There’s someone screaming outside,” a neighbor whispers. “There’s a gunshot. Hurry up. … There’s someone screaming. I just heard a gunshot.”
In another call, a woman begs the dispatchers to send help, saying someone is “screaming and hollering” for help.
Moments later, she describes a light at the scene of the shooting.
“Oh, my God,” she says. “There’s still somebody out there walking with a flashlight.”
Zimmerman’s call to police was among the 911 tapes released by police. Some people hear what sounds like a possible racial slur. CNN enhanced the sound of the 911 call, and several members of CNN’s editorial staff repeatedly reviewed the tape but could reach no consensus on whether Zimmerman used a slur.
Witnesses – Mary Cutcher was in her kitchen making coffee that night with her roommate, Selma Mora Lamilla. The window was open, she said.
“We heard a whining. Not like a crying, boohoo, but like a whining, someone in distress, and then the gunshot,” she said. They looked out the window but saw nothing. It was dark.
The two women said they could not see whether Zimmerman was bruised or hurt. It was too dark.
“Selma asked him three times, ‘what’s going on over there?’ ” Cutcher said. “He looks back and doesn’t say anything. She asks him again, ‘everything OK? What’s going on?’ Same thing: looked at us, looked back. Finally, the third time, he said, ‘just call the police.’ ”
Another resident who identified himself as John contradicted Cutcher’s account. He remembered Martin being on top of Zimmerman.
He told the Orlando TV station WOFL that a guy wearing red yelled to him, “Help! Help!”
“I told him to stop and I was calling 911,” he said. “And then when I got upstairs and looked down, the person that was on top beating up the other guy was the one laying in the grass. I believe he was dead at that point.”
Martin’s girlfriend – Benjamin Crump, the Martin family lawyer, says Martin’s girlfriend’s account of what happened connects the dots and destroys Zimmerman’s claims of self-defense.
The girl, who did not want to be identified, said she was on the phone with the teen before the shooting.
When Zimmerman got closer to Martin, she told her boyfriend to run, but Martin told her that he was not going to run, she said.
“What are you stopping me for?” Martin asked Zimmerman, according to the girl.
“What are you doing around here?” Zimmerman asked in response.
The girl said she then got the impression that an altercation was taking place and that someone had pushed Martin, because the headset fell out of his ear, and the phone shut off.
Zimmerman’s friend – Joe Oliver said he spoke with his friend Zimmerman on Monday. He filled Oliver in on what happened between the time Martin came face to face with him and when the gun was fired — the part that’s not all clear.
Oliver said he could not divulge what Zimmerman said, just that the gun went off.
Corey, the state attorney, was asked whether that meant the shooting might have been accidental.
“We look into that in every shooting case,” Corey said.
Oliver said Zimmerman was badly hurt that night. He went to a doctor the next day to be treated for a broken nose.
“He hasn’t been back to his apartment, which is in that complex, ever since that happened, and he’s being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, for depression, for insomnia,” Oliver said.
“He cried for days after this happened. The George Zimmerman I know is not here anymore, because he knows that he took someone else’s life, and he’s extremely remorseful.”
Zimmerman has not been charged, sparking a firestorm of protest across America. Corey’s homicide staff, meanwhile, continues to work round the clock.
What’s clear now is there is a lot to be considered in this case. The information that has surfaced to date does paint a completely different story than what we first heard. Now we know that George Zimmerman was carrying a Kel-Tec 9 mm automatic pistol and on his way to a nearby grocery store when he spotted Martin walking through the Retreat at Twin Lakes. Martin was behaving in a manner that he thought was odd, as if he were on drugs….and then we have to piece in the 911 call and the witness accounts.
In hindsight this was not the kind of case that required the immediate attention of the President of the United States. His insertion into this case was because of race and its not been helpful to the investigation. It’s caused other politicians to jump on the bandwagon which has turned a fairly simple murder investigation into a circus.
The Congress members that invited the Martin family to Washington for a photo op were following up on the bad example set by the President. They got their faces on the news and they made many shocking remarks which now look self serving, inflammatory and divisive.
Congresswomen Maxine Waters-D from Calif., said it was a clear case of a hate crime. Congressional Black Caucus leader, Emmanuel Cleaver said, “The issue is the low esteem in which black life is held, particularly black males.” The outpouring of emotional support for Trayvon Martin from across America would say just the opposite.
“While this issue has shocked American culture, it hasn’t shocked me. The combination of the powerful gun lobby, racial profiling, and hate crimes make this local matter one of national attention. Sanford could be anywhere.” Said by Congresswoman Barbara Lee-D from Texas. Hate crime, gun lobby? From the opening I said that democrats would eventually get around to turning this against the NRA and gun owners.
Ordinary people to powerful politicians are now blindly attacking the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law, yet 99% of them have never even bothered to read the law! I did and it’s quite reasonable and we’ve posted it here on PS in a previous article. There’s not a thing wrong with this law and 23 other states have similar statutes. I would urge everyone to read the law before condemning it.
We at PS have always taken the position that this case is a tragedy like any homicide and we’ve not sided with anyone. We sincerely regret the loss of life and we feel bad for the families involved. But, we continue to say, please let the law complete the investigation, and if warranted wait for a court to hear the evidence. Stay calm and don’t take out your frustrations on innocent people. Don’t demand the investigators rush this case, like the irresponsible Congresswoman from Texas demanded. Barbara Lee has own agenda here and it’s not yours and its not about justice. Remember, good investigations take time and that’s what we all want…a good investigation to insure that justice is done for everyone.
Good report Jack. I think we have managed to help move this event away from a one sided railroad job. If the nation had heard only the voices quick to call racism and bloody murder justice would not be served and riots might have followed. We are so fortunate to have radio and the internet. At least now there’s a chance that the truth can be found.
The enhanced picture from the abc video that shows possible gash at the back of Zimmerman’s head can be viewed at The Daily Caller:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/29/police-surveillance-video-of-zimmerman-may-show-head-injury/
As long as we’re doing pictures we might as well include this one.
Gee whiz, what is with you kids? Not a SINGLE word “taking issue” Zimmerman’s “stupidity”? Boy howdy, one of your readers is going to be absolutely beside himself with your callous disregard for his lofty opinions.
Interesting that both Spike Lee and Rosanne Barr still have their Twitter accounts after having violated the Twitter TOS so egregiously. I guess that if you are a wealthy celebrity you get a pass, no matter how horrid your behavior is.
I stand corrected. Spike Lee was man enough to apologize. Sort of. The question remains what exactly is Spike sorry about, tweeting the wrong address?
When Obama injected himself into this matter I felt a twinge of disgust. Here is a story that makes for an interesting contrast to Obama’s public grief over the Trayvon Martin incident —
“Parents of murdered British students criticise Barack Obama”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9173820/Parents-of-murdered-British-students-criticise-Barack-Obama.html
It is my understanding that the Stand Your Ground law was passed because of basic anarchy that happened after a hurricane. Of course some morons in law enforcement and state prosecutor’s offices have misinterpreted it but it should not apply here.
It sounds to me like the investigator for this case wanted to charge Zimmerman but the State Prosecutor said no. Because of this America became outraged and now we get to have an awesome trial-by-media which means all the swarms of idiots get to weigh in with misinformation and noise that just muddles the investigation. How can witnesses give accurate statements now when they have read so much inaccurate information in the media? And why would anyone with information come forward when our good friends in the New Black Panthers are offering a bounty for Zimmerman? Who is next on their list? Witnesses that give statements they don’t like?
Our soldiers are dying in the dessert to protect what passes for civil liberty and justice in the US in the 21st century.
Sad.
Re Princess’: “Our soldiers are dying in the dessert to protect what passes for civil liberty and justice in the US in the 21st century.
Sad.”
Sad indeed. Very sad.
I’ll call Zimmerman an idiot. Gladly. He was an idiot. What if Martin had been armed and there was a shoot out and more innocent people had been hurt or killed? He should not have had a weapon and he should not have pursued the kid.
Period.
On this one, I’m standing with Joe Scarborough and The National Review:
“Why is it that some on the right are actually taking this up as a cause?” Scarborough asked. “As National Review said almost immediately after it happened, this has nothing to do with gun rights, this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, this has nothing to do with stand your ground laws, this has nothing to do with the NRA. This has everything to do with a guy that’s trying to play security cop, who is unhinged, who chased down and shot a 17-year-old kid armed with Skittles and iced tea.'”
The right needs to embrace more intelligent debate from people like Joe Scarborough and less disgusting input from liars like Michelle Malkin who posted a false picture of Trayvon Martin.
More from Scarborough:
“some racist websites, but also sadly some fairly mainstream websites are actually going into Trayvon Martins social media pages, be it Twitter or MySpace, and they’re trying to find ominous looking pictures while skipping over pictures of him holding up a birthday cake smiling, him fishing with his dad, him standing outside proudly of his home dressed in a tux ready to go to prom.”
Thank you Tina, I enjoyed doing it too. I was stunned that ABC news would try to cover over the gash on Zimmerman’s head. When you move their title out of the way, it’s plainly visible.
Course Zim didn’t need to become injured, that is not an element of when its appropriate to use deadly force.
If I may digress for a moment to another story not too different than this one….many years ago it was late at night when I responded to a silent burglar alarm at an old warehouse in the industrial area.
I rolled up with my lights off and exited, careful not to click my door on closing. A second unit took the opposing corner so we had all four sides visible between us. I was standing next to a chicken wire fence that was in bad shape and leaning over so much I could almost push it down and go into the storage yard of the warehouse. This was moonless night and the only light available was from a street light almost a block away.
I stood silently, just listening. Then I heard a commotion like someone knocking over tin pots, it was from a dark corner of the yard. A burglar realized he had been trapped and he was making a run for it…straight in my direction. All I could see was he was a male, he was tall, slender and he was running full tilt trying to crash through the chicken wire fence like a bull. I stepped up – directly into his path with my service revolver drawn and I said, “Police Officer stop or I will shoot!” He didn’t stop. In a flash he was on the fence and it went down and he came running through, recovering his balance and charging me.
It was all happening in a blaze of motion and I had a split second to shoot the shadowed aggressor charging me or go to Plan B. As it was, I pulled back with my gun hand and gave him a right cross to the forehead and that laid him out.
Not until that moment when I went to cuff him up did I discovered he was only 17, a white kid about 6′, slender, about 150 lbs. Fortunately, I didn’t hit him very hard, but it was enough to knock him down and the fight was over.
He was a bloody mess because of the scalp wound from my gun barrel. To be honest, it looked worse than it was. Later, I got some nasty looks from people at the ER, even a nurse gave me that look like I was a bad guy. You might just as well not even try to explain to folks at this point.
Imagine what would have happened if I had shot him and he was black?
Actually we (some of the other guys in the department) did shoot a young black man (about 22-23 years old) a couple of years earlier and it turned ugly. The NAACP protested us, the black community was up in arms and picketing the police department calling us names like racists and killers. It was a bad scene for a long time and a lot of hate was directed at the cops over this shooting. The black guy was no angel and he was totally flipped out on something. It ended in a gun battle… he lost. He was shot in the chest numerous times, but not before he got a volley of shots off from his own pistol.
It was legal and there was no choice but to take him out. The bad guy opened up on them first, so at that point it’s a gunfight no ifs ands or buts. A couple of cops were very lucky that day that they didn’t get hit.
Princess Sacarborough may be right but he is basing his position on something he believes to be true that simply has not been proven, that Zimmerman “chased Martin down”. That may not be an accurate description of what happened at all. If it is and if his intention was to harm martin he deserves to be tried for murder. But if he was simply following at a distance to keep track of martin then Scarborough’s position doesn’t hold water.
More Scarborough: “…they’re trying to find ominous looking pictures while skipping over pictures of him holding up a birthday cake smiling.”
The alternative is allowing abc and other so-called news outlets to post menacing pictures of Zimmerman while posting a baby faced Martin that doesn’t reflect his current age or size. If the media reported without bias it wouldn’t be necessary. Once again Scarborough is basing his opinion on a faulty assumption.
Like it or don’t, we are in a political war of words/pictures in this country and we in right leaning media are attempting to, 1. Expose media bias, 2. Balance what is reported, and 3. Ask questions so that people are challenged to seek the truth.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Jack. I can’t begin to imagine what it is like for those who work in law enforcement, especially those like your son who serve in areas like Stockton.
This is a very sad case and I really do hope that there’s enough evidence when all is said and done to satisfy the public on whatever decision is finally rendered. I fear that onl a murder conviction will satisfy some even if it is found that circumstances justified Zimmerman’s actions.
That’s Roseanne? You pasting indiscriminately again?
And again … why are you thrashing about so? The grand jury has the surveillance video in it’s original state, and will make whatever determination it makes.
The hysteria is quite telling. You shouldn’t expose yerself thus.
“Imagine what would have happened if I had shot him and he was black??
Again, we are missing the point. If he were black, would you have shot him? … when it plainly wasn’t necessary?
Apples and oranges, guy. And still we wonder over the origins of all this thrashing?
Re Princesses’: “I’ll call Zimmerman an idiot. Gladly.”
I don’t see it that way and I am not convinced. Not yet at least.
Re Princesses’: “The right needs to embrace more intelligent debate from people like Joe Scarborough and less disgusting input from liars like Michelle Malkin who posted a false picture of Trayvon Martin.”
Malkin made a mistake and admitted it. That does not make her a liar, or a right wing liar. My very last pick for “intelligent debate” would be anything that comes out of the mouth of MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. He is just trying to get some attention and jack up his piss-poor ratings.
What about all the pictures being circulated by the lame stream media at large of Trayvon Martin when he was several years younger? Any comments?
If I were to call up some idiots in this affair, Rosanne Barr, Spike Lee, Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson Lee (what is it with the Lees here?), some no-name jerk who represents the AFL-CIO, Chris, at least half a dozen Zimmerman condemning politicians, and Obama float to the top of this fame seeking, bald opportunism, gymnastic political maneuvering, race-baiting cesspool.
Whatever the sequence of events that may have led up to this sad affair it appears (according to one eye witness at least) that Zimmerman feared for his life and reacted accordingly. Another witness says different. One wonders if either George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, and their families will ever get justice.
Jesse Jackson speaking before 1,600 people assembled at a Baptist Church in Eatonville:
“How do we go from a moment to a movement that creates fundamental change? If its a moment, we go home. If its a movement, we go to war.”
I guess some folks want a war. A civil race war.
That is sad indeed.
This just in —
Former Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) made quite a fuss when he donned a “hoodie” during a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives until he was escorted out. At the time, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “applauded his courage” for doing so.
Meanwhile, back home in Rush’s district, two men wearing hooded sweatshirts, or “hoodies,” were the shooters in an incident that left one dead and five injured.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/30/Hoodie-Wearing-Gunmen-Kill-1-Wound-5-in-Rushs-Chicago-District
Where is the outrage? Eh? Anything to say Mister President? How about you Hoody Rush or Nasty Pelosi? Cat got your tongue?
Re the always amusing Libby’s: “Again, we are missing the point. If he were black, would you have shot him? … when it plainly wasn’t necessary?”
Have you completely missed the point that if this were black on white killing, or black on black killing, there would not be a national stink about it and Obama and every other self-promoting, opportunist race-baiter would not be injecting themselves into it?
Evidently you have. No surprises there.