I can think of a lot of reasons. When I was getting followed by a car full of guys, the last thing I wanted to do was go home so they'd know where I live.
I can think of a lot of reasons. When I was getting followed by a car full of guys, the last thing I wanted to do was go home so they'd know where I live.
Nope, I probably would ask them for directions. Getting old, so getting lost is a real possibility.If someone followed you at 7pm roadside in a residential community, in which you were a recent visitor, would you go to a dark place and attack them?
Right...and I would agree with you if Zimmerman was minding his own business and got randomly jumped and shot Trayvon.
So, what did you do?
Did you go ape**** :giggling: on them?
More fantasy scenarios? Such great fear while holding a cellphone and yet no call for help?
There is nothing wrong with checking out (including following, to see what he's up to) a 6' male stranger in ones community.
A 6 foot male visiting a community should not be surprised when he is checked out by a neighbor. Many people in my community will check out or even follow a stranger to see what they are up to. There is nothing wrong with that. It in no way justifies an attack no removes their right to self defense.
Oh, please. I've had neighbors check me out. I've had plenty of people follow me, some probably with bad intentions. And I've never needed to attack someone just for following me, not even in developing countries.
Yes, yes there is. That's called profiling, and it violates your civil rights.
Have you shown any evidence yet that 6 foot males are not crime victims?
You certainly have a distinct preoccupation with 6 foot males.
The answer to the OP's poll question, taken alone without any other information is NO! There is no legal justification for assaulting someone simply because they were following you.
Now, you do have a right to defend yourself using reasonable force if you have a rational belief that you are facing a credible threat of harm. You can escalate this defense to the use of deadly force if you have a rational belief that you are in imminent peril of death or serious bodily harm.
To address parties on both sides of the case people keep citing, here is a HYPOTHETICAL scenario.
You are a young individual visiting a location you are not very familiar with, although you have a right to be there. It is night time, and raining, and as a typical youth you would be experiencing a heightened awareness of your surroundings because you are alone in unfamiliar territory. Compound this perhaps by prior nighttime encounters with other aggressive kids, and/or perhaps being rousted by cops or other adults.
Now you notice someone seems to be following you. You begin to make efforts to lose this tail, cutting accross lawns and through yards. You don't think the person following you is a policeman because you know they are more open and aggressive, usually shining lights or turning on their flashers and using a loudspeaker to ask you to halt. Your apprehension is increasing because you don't know who it is or why you are being followed. NOTE: the person following is a concerned resident who thinks the teen's evasive actions are very suspicious. This increases HIS alarm, and his desire to make certain the individual is not a threat to his neighborhood. He keeps following.
After a period of "cat and mouse" the two meet. Question: What if the concerned citizen steps up and grabs the arm of the nervous teenager to try to stop and question him? Can the teenager strike out in honest fear he is being assaulted?
My point is, we don't know exactly how this particular confrontation started, right? I have not followed the case so I ask; was there any other eye-witness to the start of the fight besides the survivor? My understanding is that the survivor of the confrontation never testified on his own behalf, so we only have his statements during his police interviews for what happened initially, correct?
So I ask again, would any teenager caught up in such a situation have the right to strike a person who has been following him if that person grabs him first?
Don't you think though that some situations warrant concern while others may not?
Also, that if you are a woman or an young man you may be more inclined to feel threatened than if you are a big man?
It seems that the kid would certainly have met the requirements to reasonably evade confrontation and would be justified to use force to defence himself out of fear for his safety.
Yes. When I was in Africa, alone, some followings warranted concern. I never attacked the follower. 7 pm, roadside, residential community, middle class America is not a big "oh crap" moment for me. If it was, I would call the cops - not go to a dark place and attack the concerned neighbor.
Martin was 6'.
Is it really so hard for you to believe that Trayvon wasn't afraid? Do you have any idea what it's like to get followed?
This is really irrelevant. The question is did Trayvon feel threatened. If he did his so called "attack" would be justified for the same reasons Zimmerman was supposedly justified. Unfortunately we will never hear his side of the story.
This is really irrelevant. The question is did Trayvon feel threatened. If he did his so called "attack" would be justified for the same reasons Zimmerman was supposedly justified. Unfortunately we will never hear his side of the story.
Yes, yes there is. That's called profiling, and it violates your civil rights.
I have to ask - and I guess i just picked your post to ask this of for no reason at all - but why is Martin called by his first name while Zimmerman is called by his last name?
Is it because Treyvon sounds like a last name and Martin sounds like a first?
How is that possibly relevant. What's your explanation...that he was using being stalked as an excuse to beat somebody to death?
Being followed at 7 pm in a residential community roadside while a minute from home is not justification to attack someone (without even calling the police!). Especially not as a 6' male. We're not talking about a woman being followed late at night in a parking lot downtown. Let's keep context.
I actually alternate and sometimes call them by their last names, by first names, by initials. I don't think it is really relevant. Honestly curious....are you making a point or is that just random curiosity,
Where were you people back when the trial was actually happening? What's the point in going through it all now after it's all over? Oy!
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