Neighborhood watch captain shoots innocent black youth and doesn't even get arrested

[Bump]

This is some ****ED UP SHIT, they aren't sure if the racist neighborhood watch idiot should be arrested? If anything, local gangs might take notice of this and start shooting up that neighborhood or just random white neighborhoods. I could never live in the south, it's ridiculous. The guy shoots an innocent teen walking to the store to buy skittles. Should be life in prison, that's cold blood man.

http://news.yahoo.com/family-florida...044537742.html




ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old African-American boy shot to death last month in his gated Florida community by a white Neighborhood Watch captain wants to see the captain arrested, the family's lawyer said on Wednesday.

Trayvon Martin was shot dead after he took a break from watching NBA All-Star game television coverage to walk 10 minutes to a convenience store to buy snacks including Skittles candy requested by his 13-year-old brother, Chad, the family's lawyer Ben Crump said.

"He was a good kid," Crump said in an interview, adding that the family would issue a call for the Watch captain's arrest at a news conference on Thursday. "On his way home, a Neighborhood Watch loose cannon shot and killed him."

[Related: Fla. teen avoids deportation]

Trayvon, who lived in Miami with his mother, had been visiting his father and stepmother in a gated townhome community called The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, 20 miles north of Orlando.

As Trayvon returned to the townhome, Sanford police received a 911 call reporting a suspicious person.

Although names are blacked out on the police report, Crump and media reports at the time of the shooting identified the caller as George Zimmerman who is listed in the community's newsletter as the Neighborhood Watch captain.

Without waiting for police to arrive, Crump said, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was on the sidewalk near his home. By the time police got there, Trayvon was dead of a single gunshot to the chest.

"What do the police find in his pocket? Skittles," Crump said. "A can of Arizona ice tea in his jacket pocket and Skittles in his front pocket for his brother Chad."

Zimmerman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening at a phone number listed for him on the community's newsletter.

Crump said the family was concerned that police might decide to consider the shooting as self defense, and that police have ignored the family's request for a copy of the original 911 call, which they think will shed light on the incidents.

"If the 911 protocol across the country held to form here, they told him not to get involved. He disobeyed that order," said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the family.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," said Crump, who has prepared a public records lawsuit to file on Thursday if the family doesn't get the 911 tape. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Since Trayvon, a high school junior who wanted to be a pilot, was black and Zimmerman is white, Crump said race is "the 600 pound elephant in the room."

"Why is this kid suspicious in the first place? I think a stereotype must have been placed on the kid," Crump said.

(Editing By Cynthia Johnston and Peter Bohan)

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by DaFace

So just to be clear, in this situation:

1. You see a guy walking down the street. You think he might be up to something, so you follow him in your car.
2. You get out of the car and approach him. When you get close enough...
3. The kid pushes you.
4. You shoot him dead.

In this scenario, it's the kid's fault?

The answer to your question is that legal culpability would depend upon whether or not the person who was pushed was reasonably in fear for his life.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by R8ers

dont think it happened like that

How do you think it happened?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by R8ers

dont think it happened like that

No, but it's the basic idea. Where does the line lie where "gentle push" becomes "OK to kill someone"?

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by DaFace

No, but it's the basic idea. Where does the line lie where "gentle push" becomes "OK to kill someone"?

Question for the jury

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

obviously you hate black people. probably mexicans too. in fact, anyone who isn't a part of the master race is probably on some hit list of yours. damn white people always trying to keep the black man down. not being serious.

all the people throwing around racist bullshit in this thread ****ing piss me off. no matter what, if something bad happens to a black person and it is perpetrated by a non black, it is immediately and unequivocally due to race and law enforcement is on the white man's side. facts, or lack thereof, mean nothing.

if there is any chance that all people will live together and be able to co-exists... people (other minorities included) HAVE to stop seeing racism in damn near everything. not to say it doesn't still exist or doesn't still happen but it is not nearly as prevelant as it used to be as the younger generation were mostly brought up without those prejudices.

/off soap box

look for racism... and you will always find it.

It's all part of the master plan to get a black guy killed and the mexican thrown in jail for it.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

The answer to your question is that legal culpability would depend upon whether or not the person who was pushed was reasonably in fear for his life.

But how do you define that? Maybe Zimmerman is just a gigantic pussy. It sounds like the way the law is written "reasonably in fear for his life" is completely in the eye of the person doing the killing, which seems like a pretty poor way to word a law.

[R8ers]

Originally Posted by DaFace

No, but it's the basic idea. Where does the line lie where "gentle push" becomes "OK to kill someone"?

when he starts hitting you in the face?

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Question for the jury

Provided that the cops actually arrest Zimmerman.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by R8ers

when he starts hitting you in the face?

So, if a person punches another person in the face, the one being punched has the right to kill the person throwing the punch?

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by DaFace

No, but it's the basic idea. Where does the line lie where "gentle push" becomes "OK to kill someone"?

I think when you become unable to defend yourself physically and the hits are still coming.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by DaFace

But how do you define that? Maybe Zimmerman is just a gigantic pussy. It sounds like the way the law is written "reasonably in fear for his life" is completely in the eye of the person doing the killing, which seems like a pretty poor way to word a law.

This is part of what I was touching on with my post from this morning. It's a little unnerving to think that fights can legitimately end in gunfire.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by DaFace

But how do you define that? Maybe Zimmerman is just a gigantic pussy. It sounds like the way the law is written "reasonably in fear for his life" is completely in the eye of the person doing the killing, which seems like a pretty poor way to word a law.

The "reasonable" standard is not the same as "in the eye of the person doing the killing. That's a different standard and, yet, it can actually work as a defense or mitigator in some instances.

The question of whether or not the actions were reasonable is left up to the jury to answer, assuming a case involving it goes to trial.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by R8ers

dont think it happened like that

were you there?

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by jspchief

This is part of what I was touching on with my post from this morning. It's a little unnerving to think that fights can legitimately end in gunfire.

No kidding. Hell, I WITNESSED plenty of fights in middle and high school that, according to this logic, could have LEGALLY ended in someone being KILLED. It just doesn't make sense.

[R8ers]

Originally Posted by DaFace

So, if a person punches another person in the face, the one being punched has the right to kill the person throwing the punch?

If he is taking a beating to the point he fears for his life....