yes and no. Even Jesse Jackson is suspicious of young black men wearing hoodies, you would have to be stupid not to be as all the evidence we have shows they have a very high rate of committing crimes.
I don't know exactly what happened and I doubt we ever will. All I said is that my son would never start a fight and would most likely would simply surrender to any authority figure in that situation. Young black men on the other hand are more likely to fight since they have some sort of pride thing going on- it is simply an observation.
From what I have read so far, the "Watch Group" was not registered. It may be that the group had good intentions, but "The road to Hell..." etc. This makes Zimmerman a guy with a gun on the street. He had no authority above that. His instructions were to leave the situation to police. Being in a car, he could have just tailed him and alerted police to his location. This is what watch groups do. That there were a number of burglaries in the area makes the discipline enforced on watch groups even more important. Anger is a motivation that such discipline seeks to curb. Professionals are taught to use deadly force as a last resort. They are also taught how to circumvent situations that can lead to the use of deadly force, if possible. Zimmerman was not a professional by any standard. His level of direct interaction should have matched the level of his training as a professional law enforcement officer - minimal to none.
Zimmerman obviously went too far, and OF COURSE that means white people are bad and we need some sort of collective action.
Looks like Zimmerman just defended himself. No crime in that. But one man's testimony could be key for the police. "The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'help, helpâ¦and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," he said. Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie; Zimmerman was in red. The witness only wanted to be identified as "John," and didn't not want to be shown on camera. His statements to police were instrumental, because police backed up Zimmerman's claims, saying those screams on the 911 call are those of Zimmerman. "When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," John said. Zimmerman says the shooting was self defense. According to information released on the Sanford city website, Zimmerman said he was going back to his SUV when he was attacked by the teen. Sanford police say Zimmerman was bloody in his face and head, and the back of his shirt was wet and had grass stains, indicating a struggle took place before the shooting. http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/state/witness-martin-attacked-zimmerman-03232012
Zimmerman was not an authority figure in any way. He was a strange man following the boy in a car and then got out of the car to pursue the boy on foot. The boy was probably scared. I often take walks late at night. I know if I was being followed by car then on foot I would not think it was an authority figure following me and I would start thinking of ways to protect myself.
pspr so if I follow your ass then get out of my car and physically try to detain you and you start kicking my ass to get away, then it's ok to kill you? Edit: ok as long as you're black
I would not project what was in the minds of either person. Watch Groups are called "Watch" Groups for a reason. They are meant to be an aid to the eyes and ears of police. They are not called "Intervention" Groups. Your physical interaction with any suspect is to be NONE. You are a dispatcher, with the possible added benefit of visual situational updates. You do NOT place yourself into direct confrontation. You are not trained to handle it.