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Trayvon Martin acted in self-defense

sharon said:
Police officers in uniforms who speak and identify themselves? They are taught to diffuse a situation, not escalate it.
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What about a police officer off duty wearing civilian clothes? He deserves to be ambushed if not identifying himself?
 
DevotedDane said:
What about a police officer off duty wearing civilian clothes? He deserves to be ambushed if not identifying himself?
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An off duty police officer would still have identified himself.
 
spud_meister said:
You can't blame Martin for his actions. Being followed at night by a dude in a car is ****ing creepy.
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would you tell your children to confront some one following them? or would you tell them to run straight home?
 
Oceandan said:
Huh?????? A mugger is tailing you, instigating a conflict, without identifying himself. How is it different again????
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not sure what's so hard to understand. i'm not saying that carrying a weapon is always unwarranted, i'm saying i think zimmerman didn't need his. my heart doesn't bleed at the thought of poor zimmy getting punched in the face by a kid after he tailed him
 
sharon said:
An off duty police officer would still have identified himself.
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Not if it was a surprise attack by the assaliant.

But do you seriously think that an attack is justified if the person doesnt identify himself?
 
DevotedDane said:
Not if it was a surprise attack by the assaliant.

But do you seriously think that an attack is justified if the person doesnt identify himself?
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There wasn't any surprise attack.. Trayvon asked Zimmerman, why are you following me?
 
captainawesome said:
Blame the victim.
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waiting for your answer. would you tell your children to confront some one following them? or would you tell them to run straight home?
 
evermoas said:
not sure what's so hard to understand. i'm not saying that carrying a weapon is always unwarranted, i'm saying i think zimmerman didn't need his. my heart doesn't bleed at the thought of poor zimmy getting punched in the face by a kid after he tailed him
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Not sure what's so hard to understand. You're heart won't bleed if you are ever tailed by a mugger and get punched in the face.
 
CycloneWanderer said:
The original victim of Assault was Zimmerman. You have no problem blaming him for being assaulted.
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Z could have stayed safe in his SUV. That he left the vehicle against the instructions of the 911 operator should have gotten him convicted. It's only through the odd nature of Florida self-defense laws that he is not in jail today. Smart would have been Trayvon carrying his own weapon and, upon noticing he was being followed, shooting that cracker dead.
 
calamity said:
Z could have stayed safe in his SUV. That he left the vehicle against the instructions of the 911 operator should have gotten him convicted. It's only through the odd nature of Florida self-defense laws that he is not in jail today. Smart would have been Trayvon carrying his own weapon and, upon noticing he was being followed, shooting that cracker dead.
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Smart would have been Trayvon not being a pothead and getting kicked out of school.
 
Tigger said:
Self-Defense laws to not allow for an escalation of force. Considering that Martin had no way of knowing that Zimmerman was armed prior to the physical assault, the escalation of force was on Martin's part. He would have been better off calling the police (rather than his girlfriend) and/or heading for a populated and lit area rather than confronting Zimmerman as he did. Once he chose to engage Zimmerman in a physical confrontation, he opened it up to the result that occured.
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Who knows what he knew? He did, but we don't hear his side.

Martin could have made a number of better decisions. As could have Zimmerman. It's unfortunate what their poor choices added up to.
 
VanceMack said:
So...by your offering of a position...Zimmerman was following what he thought was a suspicious person, Martin felt threatened and attacked the man following him, and after he attacked the man following him and began beating him into the ground, the man being beaten who was attacked, pulled a firearm and shot the initial attacker.

OK...well...case closed.
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Yeah, that's actually pretty much what I think happened.
 
mak2 said:
Can we explore this "suspicious looking youth" thing for a minute. There were traces of THC in his bloodstream. Perhaps his eyes were a bit bloodshot. How could Z tell from appearences he was suspended from school? How did Z know about the atttempting to buy a gun or any of that stuff. What exactly do you think made him look suspecious? The Skittles?

And to answer your question. If you are committing a crime like assualt and the person you assualt dies of a heart attack you are generally and should be, charged with something.
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Why we are on the topic of correcting misconceptions how about the deference between racial profiling and using suspect discreptions. Zimmerman didn't say hey look a black guy I bet he's up to no good ,he knew there had been robberies by young black men recently in his neighborhood so he was supicoys of a young black man he didn't know acting as to what he thought was suspicious so he investigated. One makes the defendant seem racist they other shows him to be a concerned citizen.
 
calamity said:
How is that relevant?
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if we're going to play the coulda/shoulda/woulda game you have to take everything into consideration. If Trayvon had chosen to obey the school policies, he'd have been at home with his mother in miami-dade instead of roaming the streets in Sanford.
 
rocket88 said:
Who knows what he knew? He did, but we don't hear his side.

Martin could have made a number of better decisions. As could have Zimmerman. It's unfortunate what their poor choices added up to.
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We didn't hear Martin's side because of those poor decisions made by both people. You're 100% correct that it's tragic what those poor choices lead to.

Maybe because I am a gun owner, and someone who does carry a firearm on my person quite frequently, but I go out of my way to avoid confrontations with people; even on those occasions when I'm not carrying. You never quite know what that other person's capabilities and equipage may be. That's not to say that you should engage in confrontational behavior if you are sure you have the advantage, but to point out that 99% of the time avoidance is the better option. If Martin just walks away, none of this happens. If he goes to his dad's house Zimmerman never has the opportunity to make some of the decisions he made.

I get hassled and harassed in public from time to time due to my physical appearance. Over 39 years I've learned it's best to just walk away. It's not worth it to respond 99% of the time. It's just unfortunate that nobody ever taught that Trayvon. On the other hand, I would suggest that whatever Law Enforcement group was working with the Neighborhood Watch needs to make a much better presentation of what is expected and acceptable for members to do. Zimmerman appears to have exceeded that authority on the night in question.
 
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