Trayvon Martin: It concerns me they cleaned up the scene too quickly.

[Fawke Em]

I covered cops for 10 years as a reporter.

According to reports, Tracy Martin and his fiancee, Brandy Green, were out to dinner until just before 11 p.m. and they had no earthly idea that there had been a murder in their back yard.

That concerns me.

As a police reporter, I have covered crime scenes. I have covered murders, drowning, wrecks and other accidents. Scene investigations take HOURS and HOURS and HOURS. Certainly, a car wreck works the fastest because it impedes other drivers - you gather quickly and you tow in the vehicles, but mostly, car wrecks aren't intentional; however, a shooting scene would still be taped off for at least 12, if not 24 hours.

The fact that Tracy Martin and Brandy Green didn't notice a thing meant they cleared the scene in less than four hours.

Wow.

Either the Sanford Police are the best forensic collectors in history or they're incompetent as hell.

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. It Is More Than A Concern

The Martin case is a massive obstruction of justice of a 1st degree murder. It is also accessory to murder which are both felonies. The cops are felons and conspirators to cover up a cold blooded murder. It is that simple.

[Fawke Em]

3. I actually don't believe it's first degree murder, but it's still at least

2nd degree or manslaughter.

What I think happened is that Zimmerman and the cops just thought this was another "black thug" and let him go until they realized that he had both parents in his life, was fairly middle class and wasn't a "thug."

If they'd just charged Zimmerman that night or shortly after, this wouldn't be a national issue.

God bless Sybrina and Tracy and Jahvaris.

[vaberella]

7. I have a question.

If it comes out that the gunshot Trayvon received was consist with one in the back would it be 1st degree then? I ask only because I can't understand how the boy ends up face down in the grass with his toes pointing towards the sidewalk or Zimmerman without any blood on him.

[Fawke Em]

10. In the back? Yes, it would be at that point.

And I agree with your assessment except for one thing.

Please listen again to the 911 tape with the screams. Just after the gunshot, you hear another moan. He could have been hit in the chest and rolled over.

I am just speculating, of course.

But, I hear more on the tape than anyone seems to talk about.

I don't mean to sound racist, but I clearly hear a young black male saying, "Let me go!" long before the final scream and I hear a slight wail just after the shot.

I hear a lot on that. It bothers me.

[mzmolly]

24. Let me go?

I hadn't heard that. Horrible.

Do you have a link to the tape you listened to? I've heard the partial versions, and yes it's very disturbing.

If Martin says "let me go" Zimmerman's story is toast. He said he was punched and was the person screaming for help.

[Fawke Em]

26. Not a link, but Google

Mother Jones Trayvon Martin and you'll get a lot of it.

I clearly hear it just after the audio drops when the women is giving her address (which is now public record, but on the tapes, they still blank it out).

[mzmolly]

28. Ugh. So sad.

Thank you.

[jonthebru]

2. I think they are incompetent as hell.

Where I live the shooter would have been held and a complete investigation would have been done. Then maybe he would have been released or charged. The fact that this department said they were "prohibited " from arresting the shooter is absurd. Even if the so called "stand your ground" law applied a complete investigation should have been done. This is where the smell of racism is evident by the way.
The evidence we now have are the 911 calls and maybe some more items that the Sanford PD may have.
There will undoubtedly be a civil suit and the tax payers of Sanford and the Owners Association of the residency complex will be held liable for their sheer incompetence. And they deserve it...

[Fawke Em]

4. I don't think the other homeowners deserve it.

Only George Zimmerman

It wasn't the rest of the community, although they're liable now.

Certainly, they're not as harmed as a parent who has lost his or her son.

[tblue]

5. Here's my idea:

I propose that the death of every single black male in America undergo an extensive and transparent investigation. Let's try that for a few years——one year even——and see what happens. Every damned day I hear of another black man or teen who has been abused or worse by 'authorities.' How many have to wind up in prison or die before we get a real handle on it? It's high time we consider this an epidemic of serious proportions. I am fed up with every black male living his life with a target on his back. E FREAKING NUFF!!!!

[Cali_Democrat]

9. There does seem to be a lot of those types of cases lately

Maybe it's because the Trayvon story is simply shedding light on these cases. Or maybe it's happening more. I don't know for sure.

Unarmed young black males, many in their teens, gunned down by security guards, cops or wannabe cops. Hell, there's even a story about a lady trying to run over a 13-year-old black kid in his go cart as she told him he didn't belong in the neighborhood he lived in.

The sad part is, many times the perpetrators aren't even arrested or charged. But when a black person is the suspect, they are arrested and charged almost immediately and without hesitation.

I seriously think some international organization should look into the injustice perpetrated against blacks in the US. This is a human rights issue.

[dickthegrouch]

13. Fantastic Idea /nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Why do you thnk both the state and the FBI were canvassing?

And I would not be too shocked if they were looking for a 9mm round. Even a month later the ballistic match can be done.

You are damn correct.

[vaberella]

8. What the bullet never exited the kid's body?

I thought it was a clean in and out.

[Fawke Em]

11. We don't know that.

The funeral director couldn't tell because of the autopsy.

Nadin is correct. They're trying to find shit that should have been collected in those first hours.

[Meiko]

12. He was shot with a 9mm

Depending on the location of the wound and the ammo used not enough energy would be developed for the bullet to exit the body.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Actually 9mm are infamous for through and through

at close range. If the bullet did not do that, then you are talking something else than an in your face shot, changing the picture for Zimmerman even further.

Why officers are trained to check for follow through before squeezing the trigger. Also why some departments now issue 40 calls and those who still issue 9mm have no issue with officers qualifying to carry their own higher calliber.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. If it never exited

You are talking a longer range shot, weakening the case of self defense even further. 9mm are infamous for doing that. Yes they are light, but muzzle velocity is relatively high.

If it did exit the body the bullet went somewhere, and if their csi was as bas as it looks, they might have missed it. Either way matching to the weapon is easy. The striation on the round is quite unique to the weapon. One of the few things CSI the tv program and police blotters get right. oh and even in the humidity of florida it's not been long enough for rust to ruin that.

[winstars]

29. Kudos nadinbrzezinski!!!!

You are a shining light here at DU and its seems to me each of your 103,724 posts add so much to the discourse here. Thanks for this post and all the others!!!

[Zax2me]

14. Get that white man - kill that white man

http://www.wokv.com/news/news/local/beating-victim-attackers-said-trayvon/nMLFb
Beating victim: Attackers said "this is for Trayvon"

but not a hate crime? -
"[Get] that white [man]. This is for Trayvon ... Trayvon lives, white [man]. Kill that white [man]," the boys are quoted as saying in a police report cited by the Toledo Blade.

Three of the six youths have been charged in the case, but police interviews didn't yield enough evidence to support hate crime charges

[Fawke Em]

17. I haven't studied this case, but if it did happen in that manner,

then it's no better....

except that, at least someone was charged with something.

[noiretextatique]

23. hate begets hate

attempting hijacked of thread noted. i do not condone this violence, but it does not distract from the fact that zimmerman killed an unarmed black teenager.

[mzmolly]

25. What's your point in

sharing this?

[The Magistrate]

27. Complaint About How Whites Are So Mis-Treated By Blacks, Ma'am

Everyone knows the horrible burden it is in our society to be a white man: every white man dreams of waking up in a black skin tomorrow, knowing it would be a huge improvement in his status and prospects were such a miracle to occur....

[K Gardner]

15. Here's what I have NEVER understood: Trayvon's father lived 70

yards or so away. So his father wasn't home at the time. Even if he came home "later".. why in the world wouldn't there have been, as Fawke Em said, crime tape up.. investigators... flood lights... How could his father not have known there was a killing in his back yard? So I totally agree with this OP, and wonder why the media hasn't covered this aspect of it.

It stinks to high heaven of either incompetence, laziness, or cover-up via negligence.

[whoawhat]

16. Get rid of the evidence!

[hedgehog]

20. It occurred to me that the cops on the scene had no idea

who Trayvon Martin was or why he was there. There had been a series of break-ins at the complex, by young black and white men, but of course white people aren't scared of white men! I think someone decided that Martin had been planning a robbery. Clearly Zimmerman was in the wrong for shooting the kid, but if he'd gone on trial for preventing a robbery, there would have been hell to pay. Someone decided that the easiest path was to ignore the entire affair. By the time other people started raising questions, the knee jerk response was to cover up that misjudgment in the hopes it would all go away.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Remember homicide wanted to file manslaughter

But was overruled by the DA. They know who zimmy was.

[librechik]

21. yup. it reminds me of the WTC crimesite. Cleaned up and hauled away

before a proper investigation could be done. Makes a cranky person like me suspicious of what they might be hiding or if they just want to make the case unprosecutable.