COMMENTARY | George Zimmerman claimed he was returning to his car when Trayvon Martin attacked him, drove his head into the sidewalk and broke his nose, according to the Orlando Sentinel. However, a police video of Zimmerman being led into the Sanford, Fla., police station the night he killed Martin shows no signs of wounds to the back of his head, a broken nose, or blood anywhere on his body or clothing. The video certainly appears to show substantial evidence, although not irrefutable, that Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense is false.
Moreover, the funeral director, Richard Kurtz of Roy Mizell and Kurtz Funeral Home in Fort Lauderdale, who handled Martin’s funeral, told television talk show host Nancy Grace, “as far as his hands and knuckles I didn’t see any evidence he had been fighting anybody.”
All along, Republicans and conservatives have been persistent at finding ways to create Martin as the aggressor and that Zimmerman acted in self-defense, even though he outweighed by 100 pounds. They ignore the fact Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman whose tasks was to observe and report suspicious activity to the police instead stalked Martin in his SUV, parked, got out of his vehicle and, without any authority, provocatively confronted Martin, disregarding the police dispatcher’s directive to Zimmerman that “we don’t need you to do that.” Without any apparent need to use deadly force, Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest and killed him.
The Daily Caller already has claimed the police surveillance video of Zimmerman may show head injury.
The Daily Mail reported Martin was suspended three times for truancy, graffiti, carrying a burglary tool (a screwdriver) and for possessing a plastic bag that had traces of marijuana in it. Geraldo Rivera, conservative commentator for Fox News, blamed Martin’s death on the hoodie he was wearing on that rainy Florida evening. All of this as an attempt to create the perception that Martin was a bad kid, capable of attempting to kill Zimmerman.
According to Fox News, Republicans remain supportive of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The claim is that the legislation doesn’t apply in the case of the Martin shooting.
Florida’s concealed-carry legislation, signed into law by Republican Rick Scott, and “Stand Your Ground Law,” signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, were legislated as a result of persistent NRA lobbying, an organization that for years has had strong republican and conservative support.
However, in support of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Bush said “it doesn’t mean chase after somebody who’s turned their back.”
School suspensions don’t add up to bad kids. Whatever Martin’s failings may have been, it doesn’t change the facts surrounding his death.
Perhaps this tragedy will bring some clarity to the fact that we need to improve federal firearm regulations.
And, if this video turns out to be as it seems to clearly show, it certainly is damaging to Zimmerman’s defense.
