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was that undesirable? as a neighborhood watch person, should he have avoided calling 911?
That's just it. He wasn't! There was no neighborhood watch group. Catch up, please! It wasn't until Oct 2011 that 25 out of 500+ people got together at the request of George Zimmerman to meet with Wendy Dorival of the Sanford Police who presented a slide show. She said there was not a neighborhood watch group formed. I think I've posted links 50 times. So most of his calls weren't made as a neighborhood watch captain, just a busybody. Anyway, a lot of these calls weren't about problems within his community. He called because he saw trash in a Kohl's parking lot. He saw a pot hole once (that really works? I should do it!)
What's strange is that people here are posting as if this is a paid job. It isn't. Most people who volunteer for neighborhood watch spend a few hours a week driving around the community. In Florida, a lot of people use golf carts. What exactly is a "neighborhood watch person?" Funny, when I posted links from several sheriff's departments with descriptions of a neighborhood watch captain's duties, nobody thought they were relevant. Why not?
It would be a boring world if we were all alike, don't you think?
Yes, but that's why I said we are looking at this case through different eyes. Only a jury of 12 unbiased people can determine what really happened.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiluha
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I was just trying to make a point that IMO some of the things written, reported, etc. about GZ have been blown out of proportion...
Of course there have been a lot of exaggerations about Zimmerman. He probably wishes he could go back to that night and change everything, but he can't, and neither can Trayvon Martin's parents or his brother. 2 families were destroyed on that night. I just hope whatever happens will change the way people think about profiling people and using guns, but I doubt it.
What she said about NW. One of GZ's big defenders keeps reminding us that NW is not the issue.
Strange isn't it? I had to go back to find my post that I wrote before this conversation was totally changed to discussing hollow point bullets. Just before that became so important, I posted a lot of quotes like this one.
"Your position as a Block Captain does not give you any law enforcement authority. You are simply the person who facilitates the unity of the group, distributes information, and coordinates activities. The job you are doing is important and appreciated by the Albuquerque Police Department, but it carries no authority."
Re: the bold-he called 12 times in the year prior to shooting Trayvon. He's only 28 years old, 10 years ago he would have been 18. He's also only lived in that complex since sometime in 2009, perhaps not much more than two years.
You are correct. What is also interesting, which I've mentioned before, is that I didn't hear a single 911 caller that night say anything about the crime wave we keep hearing about, not one. In fact, the longest call, which was about 14 minutes, was from a retired teacher who was very frightened and she kept saying what a nice, safe neighborhood it is.
Here is a story that talks about when he moved in, some of his 911 calls and when the NW group was created. According to Wendy Dorival of the Sanford Police, who coordinated the first meeting:
"I told them, this is not about being a vigilante police force," Dorival said. "You're not even supposed to patrol on neighborhood watch. And you're certainly not supposed to carry a gun."
[url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1221799.ece]Trayvon Martin's killing shatters safety within Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford - Tampa Bay Times[/url]
On the 911 calls, in interviews with residents, and in several local newspapers, I kept reading/hearing remarks like this one:
"It is a peaceful place. We don't have problems here," Tito Ortiz, 62, said the other day beside his mailbox. A former minister, Ortiz remarried five years ago and bought a house in the Retreat for his new bride. Somewhere they would be safe to grow old together."
The way people on this forum are talking about the neighborhood, it sounds like a war zone.
Last edited by justNancy; 04-30-2012 at 10:23 PM..
Reason: add quote
Strange isn't it? I had to go back to find my post that I wrote before this conversation was totally changed to discussing hollow point bullets. Just before that became so important, I posted a lot of quotes like this one.
"Your position as a Block Captain does not give you any law enforcement authority. You are simply the person who facilitates the unity of the group, distributes information, and coordinates activities. The job you are doing is important and appreciated by the Albuquerque Police Department, but it carries no authority."
I think that pretty much sums it up for me!
What the heck does Albuquerque's Block Captain duties have to do with Sanford?
What the heck does Albuquerque's Block Captain duties have to do with Sanford?
If you go back to the comment where I posted several of these, they were quotes from around the country. (post #1707)
Neighborhood watch rules are very consistent. Did you bother to read what the Neighborhood Watch Coordinator from the Sanford Police Dept said? I have quoted her on numerous threads, including in a recent post.
There's a National NW Register too.
Just in case you didn't understand why I picked states like Wyoming, New Mexico and Idaho, it's because I wanted to make sure I used conservative states. I doubt if people in Wyoming are anti-gun. However, I'll add another one.
"Neighborhood Watch does not promote vigilantism. Members of Neighborhood Watch groups are never asked to put themselves in harm’s way to prevent crime. They should only observe and report suspicious activities to the Police Department. This leaves the responsibility for confronting and apprehending criminals where it belongs—with your Tucson Police Officers."
Note: most of them are in .pdf format, so I only posted those that are web sites.
Seriously guys, can we use some deductive reasoning here. You guys seem to be deadset that Zimmerman went out on a hunt to kill Martin. Is that what you really believe? If Zimmerman wanted to kill Martin, I'm pretty sure he could have done it easily, without Martin really having any time at all to "scream for help" or scream and yell at all, and alert witnesses. I mean, it only took him one shot, and letting Martin get close enough to attack him, he could have just as easily ended up dead himself.
As for "flashing a gun", I highly doubt there was any gun flashing to begin with, nor would Martin necessarily even be able to see the gun, because it was supposedly really really dark. If Martin attacked Zimmerman because he was flashing him with a gun, there most likely would have been a much shorter fight, and it would have been fighting over the gun itself, which probably would have been shot multiple times accidently in random directions, rather than one time to the chest.
As for Zimmerman avoiding a situation, the reality is that, he was following him to keep an eye on someone who he believed was acting suspiciously, and he called the police to report this activity. From the facts that we have heard, it seems that Zimmerman was at a distance when Martin turned around and talked loudly his direction, asking him why he was following him. There is no evidence to believe that Zimmerman was following very close to Martin at all. Moreover, it is difficult for me to believe that Zimmerman could have kept up with Martin in a foot race, so it is unlikely that Zimmerman was "chasing" Martin as he was running away. Zimmerman being overweight and Hispanic, and Martin being lean and black.
In my mind, the only case the state possibly has, is based on the audio where someone is screaming for help. It just doesn't seem like there is any other evidence that they could possibly have to show that any crime was committed. Whether or not Zimmerman had a gun with hollow points is pretty irrelevant to the case, regardless of how many pages in this thread you guys argue about them.
Zimmermans case is basically that, he was just keeping an eye on Trayvon because he was trying to protect his neighborhood, that Trayvon started an argument with him, that Trayvon attacked him, and that he was fearful for his life. The state has to prove that Zimmerman intended to get into a fight with Trayvon, and/or that Zimmerman attacked Trayvon first, and/or that Zimmerman was never in fear of his life.
I don't think they can prove one way or another the first or second, so their case will have to rely completely on the third.... And that will rely on that audio recording. If it is Trayvon, obviously Zimmerman is guilty. But from what I understand, no one has a recording of Trayvon's voice, and his father had claimed it wasn't Trayvon.
We have a winner.
Seriously - one thing I've noticed is that people who know the most about the facts of this case are the ones most likely to think Trayvon was the aggressor.
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There was no neighborhood watch group. Catch up, please! It wasn't until Oct 2011 that 25 out of 500+ people got together at the request of George Zimmerman to meet with Wendy Dorival of the Sanford Police who presented a slide show. She said there was not a neighborhood watch group formed. I think I've posted links 50 times. So most of his calls weren't made as a neighborhood watch captain, just a busybody. Anyway, a lot of these calls weren't about problems within his community. He called because he saw trash in a Kohl's parking lot. He saw a pot hole once (that really works? I should do it!) 
