The Death Of Travyon Martin; George Zimmerman Arrested

**Shadow** · March 31st, 2012, 04:43 PM

I don't know if this has been shared or not, yet. If it has, I apologize for double-sharing:

But after the shooting, a source inside the police department told ABC News that a narcotics detective and not a homicide detective first approached Zimmerman. The detective pepppered Zimmerman with questions, the source said, rather than allow Zimmerman to tell his story. Questions can lead a witness, the source said.

Another officer corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.

The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help.

Lee publically admitted that officers accepted Zimmerman's word at the scene that he had no police record.

Two days later during a meeting with Trayvon's father Tracy Martin, an officer told the father that Zimmerman's record was "squeaky clean."

Yet public records showed that Zimmerman was charged with battery against on officer and resisting arrest in 2005, a charge which was later expunged.

Zimmerman has not responded to requests for a comment.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/neighborhoo...6#.T3dp1n2jIcd

To be clear, I was reading that in some states, one can get their record expunged if a certain amount of time has passed with no more arrests or convictions between the first, and the request to have the record expunged.
http://criminal.lawyers.com/expungem...ement-FAQ.html

This leaves a couple more questions.. One, why did the officer 'correct' the witness? And two, what were the circumstances surrounding the expunging of Zimmerman's record?

Just something to consider.
~shadow

**Rockin Ma** · March 31st, 2012, 04:52 PM

This leaves a couple more questions.. One, why did the officer 'correct' the witness? And two, what were the circumstances surrounding the expunging of Zimmerman's record?

The courts have all kinds of programs for all kinds of offenses. Sometimes you complete a class and it's dismissed and ultimately erased, sometimes a Judge can just continue the case say 6 or 9 months and if they stayed out of trouble, dismiss the case.

You can get arrested for a bunch of different things, say pot once, cocaine once, domestic battery once...all those as a first time offender can ultimately be dismissed without it going on your record. That's three arrests not on your permanent record.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · March 31st, 2012, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by Shadow

One, why did the officer 'correct' the witness? And two, what were the circumstances surrounding the expunging of Zimmerman's record?

It's fairly common for people to get their records expunged when the crime was "minor". I wouldn't view it as suspicious for someone who wanted to go into LE to have them removed. I know several people that have gone through the process. None of their "crimes" were more than stupid shit, but it it didn't take any strange pull to get them removed.

Zimmerman described as a 'caring person,' had run-ins with the law

In 2005, according to an arrest report, a state agent arrested Zimmerman for battery on a law enforcement officer and obstructing justice. According to the report, agents with Florida's Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco division were arresting several employees near the University of Central Florida.

Agent Paul Fleishman wrote that Zimmerman walked up to a pal under arrest and began chatting, refusing to leave. Zimmerman cursed him, Fleishman wrote, before pushing him and causing a "short struggle."

The charge was later dropped when Zimmerman entered a "pre-trial diversion" program, which is not unusual for first-time offenders. The program usually entails paying fines and taking classes for anger management.

Zimmerman - in applying to enter the citizens' police academy - later disputed the official version of the event, insisting that the agent never identified himself. "I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regaurd (sic) as I hope to one day become. I would never have touched a police officer," Zimmerman wrote.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/24...-a-caring.html

As for the witness corrected by cops, that was discussed fairly early in this thread and is a cause of concern (for most of us anyway) and further muddies everything up. Mary Cutcher was the witness that ssays police corrected her. Here's what she said about that night:

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.

They ran out the sliding glass door, and within seconds, they saw Zimmerman.

"Zimmerman was standing over the body with -- basically straddling the body with his hands on Trayvon's back," Cutcher said. "And it didn't seem to me that he was trying to help him in any way. I didn't hear any struggle prior to the gunshot.

"And I feel like it was Trayvon Martin that was crying out, because the minute that the gunshot went off, the whining stopped."

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.' "

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/justic...es/?hpt=us_bn1

Another witness in that article:

A witness who asked not to be identified, even by gender, told CNN's Anderson Cooper about hearing voices outside in an area where neighborhood residents often walk their dogs and wondering, "Oh, my gosh, who's out there walking their dog in the rain?"

Then the witness heard a "very loud, predominant voice" and opened the window.

"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 recalled seeing 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," the witness said. "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."

Then one of the men, who appeared to be Hispanic, started walking toward the witness' vantage point, the witness said. Zimmerman is Hispanic.

"He didn't appear hurt or anything else," the witness said.

Not discussed in that article is the "John" guy who claims Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman.

A man who witnessed part of the altercation contacted authorities.

"The guy on the bottom, who had a red sweater on, was yelling to me, 'Help! Help!' and I told him to stop, and I was calling 911," said the witness, who asked to be identified only by his first name, John.

John said he locked his patio door, ran upstairs and heard at least one gun shot.

"And then, when I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on the top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point."

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news...od-altercation

**Whisper** · March 31st, 2012, 05:42 PM

My husband was an asshole as a teen and had to have a huge record expunged
Doesnt make him a bad person now,he has to travel to Hong Kong and all over with his job and couldnt until he had it all done
So just because people are idiots as teens and young adults and have records expunge doesnt mean they are lifelong idiots
People grow up and realize what idiots they were as teens/young adults
And its not cheap either to have those records cleaned

**Valasca** · March 31st, 2012, 05:48 PM

Any truth to this?

Now we know why George Zimmerman didn't get arrested....No Words.......According to court records George Zimmerman is the son of retired Supreme Court Magistrate Judge Robert J Zimmerman, his mother Gladys Zimmerman is a court clerk....He has three closed arrests 7/18/05 for resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer div 10........8/9/05 for domestic violence div 44..... And again on 8/10/05 domestic violence div 46

**Dakota Valkyrie** · March 31st, 2012, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

Any truth to this?

read back in the thread.

**Valasca** · March 31st, 2012, 06:04 PM

What? Go back and READ? Have you lost your MIND?

**Dakota Valkyrie** · March 31st, 2012, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

What? Go back and READ? Have you lost your MIND?

Yes. It's all Stephane's fault.

**Valasca** · March 31st, 2012, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota Valkyrie

Yes. It's all Stephane's fault.

Stephanea, Stephanb or Stephanazb?

**Whisper** · March 31st, 2012, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

Stephanea, Stephanb or Stephanazb?

Nope Stephanexx

**Shadow** · March 31st, 2012, 06:25 PM

Thank you @Dakota Valkyrie for the information you provided. I am still concerned about the 'correcting of the witness' but the other issue I can see is a valid event.

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to those last few posters because the 'light-hearted bantering' gave me cause to giggle. Thanks.

~shadow

**Valasca** · March 31st, 2012, 06:28 PM

http://failbook.failblog.org/2012/03...ls-too-soon-2/

So... No more hoodies?

**Whisper** · March 31st, 2012, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

http://failbook.failblog.org/2012/03...ls-too-soon-2/

So... No more hoodies?

I wore mine today on my run lol Im 100 lbs and as pastey white as you can get,wonder if they thought I was running from a crime

**Dakota Valkyrie** · March 31st, 2012, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Whisper

I wore mine today on my run lol Im 100 lbs and as pastey white as you can get,wonder if they thought I was running from a crime

Which makes it all the more obvious that it is nothing but sensationalized hype. Other than using it as a description of Trayvon's clothes, Zimmerman never said anything about it. People just want to get unsuspecting others all riled up.

**Rockin Ma** · March 31st, 2012, 09:14 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

What? Go back and READ? Have you lost your MIND?

I don't think a Supreme Court Judge. A magistrate for Virginia Courts IIRC.

**TACO** · March 31st, 2012, 09:31 PM

Well it looks like some are starting the violence. Violence being brought you to by the Media, Sharpton, & Jackson race baiters of America.

PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) - Seven black teens have been arrested on suspicion that they committed a hate crime when they attacked a 15-year-old Hispanic boy while he was walking home from school in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office.

The March 14 beating in Palmdale was captured on video and posted on YouTube, but has since been removed from the site. The seven boys, ages 13 to 16, were arrested Wednesday for investigation of assault and committing a hate crime, Lt. Don Ford said.

The attack happened near Cactus Middle School, but Ford didn't know if any of the teens involved were students there.

The video shows as many as 10 boys surrounding the victim and challenging him to a fight. The suspects then began hitting the teen while others watched.

During the beating, the teens made racially derogatory statements that were captured on the video, Ford said.

After the victim fell to the ground, the assailants kicked him multiple times in the head, knocked out several teeth and left shoe impressions on his skin, Ford said.

The victim was able to get to his feet and escape the onslaught, and will need to undergo dental surgery.

The teens who were arrested were identified from the video, which was discovered by a Palmdale sheriff's deputy and has been retained for evidence. Authorities are not releasing the video.

Police are seeking three more suspects.

An arraignment date has not been set yet.

http://www.katu.com/news/national/7-...145286335.html

**darkthnker** · March 31st, 2012, 09:55 PM

Just putting myself in the positions of people involved here. This one is Trayvon's father's girlfriend. If I have company, and they go out for a walk(especially alone), I would be out looking for them about 30 minutes after I expected them to return. Was Trayvon supposed to return to the girlfriend's place that night? Was his father there? Girlfriend's son was waiting for Skittles - why didn't he question Trayvon's whereabouts. What did they think happened to him all that night? He was in a strange place. I just don't understand why no one looked for him that night.

Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch guy. Does he know the father's girlfriend? How do we know GZ did not know Trayvon prior to this incident? I also can't figure how GZ thought he had a right to confront anyone walking around in a public area. If I was walking down the street and a person of any description demanded to know why I was there, I would think that they were unhinged, and I'd be afraid of them. I would prepare to defend myself because it's nobody's business what I'm doing unless they know I'm committing a crime.

**Rockin Ma** · March 31st, 2012, 10:09 PM

I can't find anything quickly from a news source except examiner that he was a John Doe for three days. And I don't know that Trayvon was in a strange place. How long was his dad dating the homeowner? I don't know, but if it was a while, I think Trayvon was comfortable there.

**darkthnker** · March 31st, 2012, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rockin Ma

I can't find anything quickly from a news source except examiner that he was a John Doe for three days. And I don't know that Trayvon was in a strange place. How long was his dad dating the homeowner? I don't know, but if it was a while, I think Trayvon was comfortable there.

I saw a clip on the news with the girlfriend's son' and a man with him was saying that the boy was told of Trayvon's death after school the next day. I don't know where that three day thing came from; they could determine his identity by calling a number on his cell phone and asking whoever answered. There are alot of missing pieces here.

**Rockin Ma** · April 1st, 2012, 10:31 AM

The Sentinel said it contacted Owen, who it described as a court-qualified expert witness and former chief engineer for the New York Public Library's Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. He told the newspaper he used software called Easy Voice Biometrics to compare Zimmerman's voice to the 911 call screams.
Owen told the newspaper that the software compared the screams to Zimmerman's voice and returned a 48 percent match. He said he would expect a match of higher than 90 percent, considering the quality of the audio.
"As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it's not Zimmerman," Owen told the Sentinel.
But he also said he could not confirm the voice as Trayvon's, because he didn't have a sample of the teen's voice.
The Sentinel said that Ed Primeau, a Michigan-based audio engineer and forensics expert, used audio enhancement and human analysis and came to the same conclusion.
"I believe that's Trayvon Martin in the background, without a doubt," Primeau told the newspaper. "That's a young man screaming."

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...-2-experts-say

**Valasca** · April 1st, 2012, 06:41 PM

"There were no physical signs like there had been a scuffle," Kurtz declared, which the network said proves Zimmerman's claims of a violent encounter with Martin before the shooting are false. "The hands--I didn't see any knuckles, bruises or what have you, and that is something we would have covered up if it would have been there. He looked perfectly normal to me when he came in and the story just does not make sense that he was in this type of scuffle or fight in anything that we could see."

http://yhoo.it/H7FBC6

**biteme** · April 2nd, 2012, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Shadow

Well said, @Silvahalo. That is exactly what I was saying earlier. If he'd stayed in his vehicle, this entire tragedy could've been avoided. It's as if he decided to try to play 'hero' or something.. :(

~shadow

It couldn't possibly be as Zimmerman said, lost sight of him and just wanted to keep track of where he was
He wanted to be able to point him out to police, but on his way back to the vehicle he got mugged

**biteme** · April 2nd, 2012, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Whisper

I wore mine today on my run lol Im 100 lbs and as pastey white as you can get,wonder if they thought I was running from a crime

But he wasn't the son O'bummer always wanted

**biteme** · April 2nd, 2012, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Valasca

http://failbook.failblog.org/2012/03...ls-too-soon-2/

So... No more hoodies?

But he wasn't the son O'bummer always wanted

**gee** · April 2nd, 2012, 12:25 PM

DeadHorse.jpg@biteme

**biteme** · April 2nd, 2012, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by gee

DeadHorse.jpg@biteme

Seems as if anyone is beating a dead horse you and your shadow are

**Rockin Ma** · April 2nd, 2012, 05:31 PM

I missed our local rally. I know some of the people in the article. I guess to someone on the outside looking in, it looks like the many rallies for Trayvon held all over, but there really is many more current things going on in our cities. Most notably, the reference to the firefighter in the article. It's really a long story to type, I don't think any of you would be interested, but it's surprising to me the one paragraph of the mayor, police chief and some other person deciding to show up to this rally. They should have stayed home with all that's going on in that office right now. I can't wait to re-read this later and see the comments from the community. They have all steered very very clear of the termination of the first black firefighter in 30 years unlawfully terminated.

http://theday.com/article/20120402/NWS01/304029924/1017

**Rockin Ma** · April 2nd, 2012, 05:51 PM

http://www.theday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...temnr=6#galtop

If you look at picture 6 of 7 I think it gives you a pretty good idea of what it is like up here, and maybe why I have to just agree to disagree with some when it comes to racial discussions. I'm not from a place where you will ever be the only white person in the room, or be in a room full of just white people. Other than a trip to GA being questioned by a black clerk "is that your boy" with a disappointing look on his face, I have not been exposed to anything in life separating races. I don't even know when I realized people were considered black, white etc, but it was pretty late into my childhood before I became aware. All the discussions about it? Are pretty new, it has only been here and I've been a member since 2008. So if people think I argue because of white guilt, or because I am naive, I'm not. I hoping you which yes, you are my friends, understand me just a little bit better. And don't take anything I say personal. This is how it is where I am from. I guess I thought the rest of the world is much like it is here. I know that it is not obviously, much like the areas of our Country that has a "bible belt" where religion is a huge point of contention among people, that too I had no clue about until I came here.

**biteme** · April 2nd, 2012, 06:13 PM

And than we have O'bummer and the truth
LOL

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/opinio...tin/index.html

Jackson said that Martin's death shows how "blacks are under attack"

The leading cause of death for black male teenagers is homicide, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Of all the black homicide victims, about 93% are killed by other black people. In 2011, nearly 85% of all people murdered in Philadelphia were black. Where are the marches and protests for these victims? Is it justice people seek or are they looking and even hoping for signs of white racism so they can exploit it?

Martin's own mother, Sybrina Fulton, filed applications for trademarks on two of the popular phrases used at rallies for Martin, "I Am Trayvon" and "Justice for Trayvon." Democrats politicized the event with a hearing on Capitol Hill in which Martin's parents testified. Later, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, wore a hoodie on the House floor.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid...ins_death.html
Obama Campaign: Republicans "Politicizing" Trayvon Martin's Death