Zimmerman didn’t really believe his own alibi-The Quote That Should End the Trayvon Trial

[kpete]

The Quote That Should End the Trayvon Trial
By John H. Richardson
at 1:32pm

Getty Images

George Zimmerman is going to be found guilty. All the evidence you need — all the evidence the cops needed — is right there in the interrogation they did with him three days after the shooting. The only thing more shocking than what Zimmerman says in the clip, which was released on the internet one year ago, is how little it has impressed the bloviating jerks who dominate the coverage of this trial.

Why did he follow Martin, a police officer asks.
“These assholes, they always get away,” Zimmerman answers.
The officer asks, “What’s behind that?”
“These people who victimize the neighborhood,” Zimmerman answers.

In Zimmerman’s angry mind, without trial or jury, even after he killed him and learned he was a 17-year-old who was legitimately staying in the complex, Martin was an asshole victimizing the neighborhood.
The officer gets a little defensive at this point. “There was an arrest a week ago,” he points out, though it is also a gentle reminder that Zimmerman’s fear might be a tad misplaced. He continues, skeptically. "How was he running?" Zimmerman describes it and the officer says, “Sounds like he was running to get away... you jumped out of car to see which way he was running? That’s not fear … it’s going to be a problem.”
Then Zimmerman whispers something. “What is that you whispered?” the officer asks. “Fucking what?”

“Punks,” Zimmerman says.

This time, the officer seems genuinely taken aback. “He wasn’t a fucking punk,” he responds.

A few moments later, he asks Zimmerman why he kept following Martin even after the police dispatcher told him not to. Zimmerman’s answer is staggering.

“I wanted to give them an address.”

An address? This may be the moment that will convict him. It means that even he suspected that Martin was a legitimate visitor to the complex, staying in an apartment and legally on the property, Zimmerman continued to pursue him. And it makes sense that Martin was staying there because of the terrain, the complex being isolated from other complexes and a mile distant from the nearest shopping center. A professional thief would be moving intentionally, not wandering down the middle of the street in the full light of the streetlamps. Although Zimmerman’s fear supposedly hinges on the series of robberies that the police believed had been addressed already with an arrest, it seems clear that even Zimmerman didn’t really believe his own alibi. More likely, even in his mind, Martin was a kid from the neighborhood out smoking a joint and at the worst, looking for a little illicit excitement — a “fking punk.”


The rest:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/trayvon-martin-trial-quote-police-interview

[uppityperson]

1. Great article, glad I went to the link and read it.

That along with his describing Trayvon as being "on drugs or something" will hurt him. So glad they got Zimmy's voice on record as it is telling.

[dballance]

2. It is not disputed that Zimmerman was a Cop wanna-be.

Zimmerman tried to become an officer and was rejected. Obviously the screening process works.

So then he started patrolling his neighborhood as a neighborhood watch person. But he did things that neighborhood watch volunteers are instructed to never do. He went about armed with a deadly weapon. Neighborhood watch volunteers are taught to never arm themselves. To never pursue a person and put themselves in danger. Zimmerman did all of those things wrong and he ended up killing a person.

If Trayvon slammed Zimmerman's head into the sidewalk then I don't see how that wasn't self-defense on Trayvon's part. He was just walking back from the frigging mini-mart when some stranger followed him and escalated an event into a murder. As a neighborhood watch person Zimmerman should have followed the training and the advice of the dispatcher. He should not have put himself in a position of danger if he really thought Trayvon was dangerous. He should have stayed in his damned vehicle and waited for the police.

He should never have gone out armed with a deadly weapon to pursue Trayvon. It's quite clear that brandishing a deadly weapon when one is not a trained professional has negative consequences. Zimmerman made very bad decisions. I suspect that is why he was rejected as an officer candidate. The police recognized he was not a good candidate to become an officer.

He was without cause and with malice. He committed a crime in our system of laws. Following a young man and disregarding the advice of the dispatcher was criminal. Let me say that again - criminal. It was criminal for him to judge Trayvon and then follow him. We have a court system in our system of society. Perhaps Treyvon was not the beautiful kid. But he didn't deserve to have Zimmerman be his judge and jury.

Do I think Zimmerman is a racist? No, not really. I think trying to apply a label to him misses the point.

I believe Zimmerman was just a jerk in the wrong place at the wrong time. A wanna-be law officer. A person who ignored the good training he was given. Who stupidly went out armed with a deadly weapon despite the fact he was trained not to do so.

[PatSeg]

4. I've known guys like Zimmerman

Sad little men who wanted to be police officers, believing a uniform and weapons would make them "somebody" that others respected and most importantly feared. Some of them became security guards, where they could pretend they were important and intimidating.

I remember one young security guard who kept applying with every police department he could find until finally he got hired. He lasted less than six months. His behavior was aggressive and violent, and they found him unsuitable for the profession. We were all surprised he got through the screening process, but he could put on a good front.

He's such a pathetic cliche. There is not one unique or distinctive characteristic about him.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Observe and Report

Besides behind the mantra of what the job of a Neighborhood Watch person should be, it was also the title of a 2009 dark comedy starring Seth Rogan.

It was somewhat derived from Taxi Driver, but in the movie, Rogan plays a mall security guard with an overzealous devotion to his work beyond what is expected from the normal security guard. Rogan's character tries to apply to the local police department, but is hampered by failing the psychological screening exam. That doesn't deter him from engaging in ridiculously over-the-top vigilante tactics when it comes to protecting his "turf," i.e. his mall.

Rogan's character describes people like Zimmerman to a tee.

[PatSeg]

8. Yes, there have been Zimmermans

both real and fictional forever. I'm picturing Barney Fife throwing his weight around because he wore a uniform and had one bullet in his pocket.

[pacalo]

3. “These assholes, they always get away,” Zimmerman answers.

He said that for the second time, even after it was widely known that Trayvon had a right to be there.

Add the bizarreness of that to the officer's bafflement & skepticism at the timing of Zimmerman's comment, along with Zimmerman's bizarre paranoia & strange deer-in-the-headlights, glazed eyes, & it seems very probable that he could murder someone else based on assumption if he were to walk free. And in his narcissist mind, he will have had the right to do it because, I suspect, his preservation is all that matters to him.

I hope the prosecution is able to make it clear to the jury what kind of man Zimmerman is.

[DrewFlorida]

11. These assholes (Zimmerman and his like) they always get away.

Unfortunately, people like Zimmerman feel the need to use their 2nd amendment guns for all manner of problem solving and creation.
Unfortunately, too often, they get away with it. Let's just hope justice is served and Zimmerman is convicted of murder and taken off the streets of America for a long long time.

[intheflow]

6. That doesn't mean he thought Martin lived there.

"I wanted to give them an address" could just mean that he wanted to give the police exact coordinates.

Zimmerman is a guilty racist asshole who needs to be locked up for life, but that conclusion-jump is just nonsensical. Much more telling is the author's sentence - and the prosecutor's opening statement - "In Zimmerman’s angry mind, without trial or jury, even after he killed him and learned he was a 17-year-old who was legitimately staying in the complex, Martin was an asshole victimizing the neighborhood." Zimmerman was predisposed to see Martin as a threat with no evidence whatsoever. That's what will get him convicted.

[nolabear]

7. I wondered why Zimmerman wouldn't give the police his own address.

Heard the original calls he made to the police, both at the time and the earlier one they didn't want admitted. Both times he said he didn't want to give the police his home address, instead directing them to other places to meet.

Why would he do that?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. Or even better, why on Feb 26th he wanted police to call HIM.

If he was supposedly heading back to his car as he claims....

[DrewFlorida]

10. Thank you for posting this interview, I was 100% sure Zimmerman is a murderer, now I'm...

100% sure!

This interview leaves me wondering, how in hell did the Sanford Police Dept not follow up on the inaccuracies brought out in his story?
I can answer my own question, the Sanford Police Dept has a long dirty history of racism, and could not be concerned bringing Zimmerman to justice for his murderous act.