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I don't really care if you agree or not. Just saying what I think.

Monday, March 26, 2012

The Hoodie

Posted by L S. "Spencer" Olsen at 8:25 AM

I first heard the story last week and being so inclined, I ran down some info on the internet to see what the deal was. What I found was interesting. I found several articles and a taped 911 call from a witness that was chilling to listen to.

In a brief minute, my mind reached a conclusion that was horrifying. A racist white guy ran down some poor black kid and shot him to silence his screams for help. Disgusting. Now I was outraged, but not for long for you see the conclusion I reached was as intended by the sensational media. Here we had some poor black kid, out for nothing more than Skittles and Iced Tea who was pursued and run down by a Punisher-wannabe lunatic with a gun for being black and wearing a hoodie. Hate crime.

But then as it always happens, I had the thought that there had to be more to the story. Who does that? Better than that, why was he not arrested? There had to be a reason and so I decided to find out what that reason was. On top of that, my suspicion was piqued when I found out that Zimmerman wasn't white and that this poor kid...

Is actually this poor kid...


...who somehow managed to shrink 18" and revert to a pre-pubescent state shortly after his tragic death. Thanks, objective media.
Let's not forget, Trayvon is also this kid...


Also, my BS radar goes off when Jesse Jackson pops out of his hole.

Let's be clear before we move on - I am not saying whether or not Zimmerman is guilty or innocent. What I am doing is trying to cut though the media BS and let "innocent until proven guilty" be the mantra of the day - which it is not.

Let's first examine the circumstances.
1. Orlando/Sanford is not exactly "Crime-Free Lenexa". I've been to north Orlando and it's not a place you want to be in after dark.
2. Zimmerman's neighborhood had been plagued by robberies, so they set up a neighborhood watch and appointed Zimmerman as the captain.
3. Zimmerman, whose job it is to look for suspicious activity (see #2) sees a 6 foot 3 hooded figure wandering around the apartment complex at night.

So let's talk evidence. The only evidence that we the people have right now are 2 (that's right, TWO) 911 calls and statements from various witnesses.

The first 911 call is from Zimmerman himself and is not a 911 call - it's in fact a call to the police's non-emergency line. The transcript is located here. There a a few important things to note in the call transcript.
1. Race isn't determined until minute into the call when...
2. Martin begins walking toward Zimmerman with his hands in his waistband...
3. At 1:20, zimmerman states "Something’s wrong with him. Yep, he’s coming to check me out."
4. At about 2 minutes or so in, Treyvon starts running and Zimmerman beings to pursue. The dispatcher tells Zimmerman that he doesn't need to do that and Zimmerman responds "OK"

Here's where the details get fuzzy. The media has told us that at this point, Zimmerman continues to pursue Martin and then shoots him in cold blood. However, if you listen to the rest of the call, after Zimmerman is told he doesn't need to follow Treyvon, Zimmerman answers "OK" and proceeds to continue talking to the dispatcher, answering questions. Just before 3:40, the dispatcher asks Zimmerman for his apartment number. Zimmerman responds then catches himself because he doesn't know where Martin is. "It’s a home. It’s 1950 – oh, crap, I don’t want to give it out – I don’t know where this kid is [inaudible] [3:40]"

This is my first red flag. Zimmerman clearly did not follow Martin at this point and in fact lost track of him. Now it's entirely possible that while on his way to the mailboxes to meet police Zimmerman looked for Trayvon and found him. According to Martin's girlfriend who was on the phone to him Zimmerman confronted Trayvon.

She said the man caught up with Trayvon and said:

“Trayvon said, ‘What are you following me for?’ and the man said, ‘What are you doing here?’ Next thing I hear is somebody pushing and somebody pushed Trayvon, because the headset just fell.”

This is an interesting statement because it appears that Trayvon's girlfriend is either psychic, can see like Batman through telephones, or just really sure that Zimmerman started the pushing because Trayvon was black and Zimmerman is a racist because she seems to know who pushed whom based on what she heard over a cell phone.

The very next sequence of evidence is the other 911 call. Here we hear someone screaming for help. Turns out it's Zimmerman (or at least, according to his father, not Trayvon's). Aside from that, there's a witness who saw the whole thing and indicates that Zimmerman was receiving a beat-down and screaming for help. And for you internet crusaders who think a bullet is a disproportionate response to being punched in the nose - Does it sound like he's merely being punched in the nose?

So let's do this, everyone - let's just let the courts do their job. The police found a man beaten and bloodied next to a dead body. Eye witnesses say that the man with the gun was being beaten and crying for help. Stand Your Ground law says that this would be a bad arrest so they let him go - but not after getting his statement, statements of the neighbors and witnesses, and gathering evidence. Again, the right things have been done so far. The prosecution admits that they have almost no case but are taking it to a grand jury to appease the community who is crying for blood.

It amazes me that the same people I hear crying for Gitmo detainees to get due process are calling for Zimmerman's head on a platter.


How about we all just sit back and wait for a verdict before convicting anyone. Let's stop making this the situation:



 

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