Trayvon Martin

[Balta1701]

Yea, I read that yesterday at some point, have to agree with you at the moment, sounds like the prosecutor didn't want a case that wasn't a sure win.

And you're forgetting...the law explicitly says that you can't arrest unless you basically know it's a slam-dunk case. Not sure exactly what that translates to for a prosecutor, but I have to imagine there's some sort of liability/enforcement mechanism for that clause.

[Balta1701]

Balta,

 

That is interesting. The first thing I tried to see was his nose, the second was blood spatter (couldnt find any) and the third was the back of his head.

 

 

Paramedics treated him at the scene, but he refused to go to the hospital for further treatment. I'm sure the details are in their (the emts) medical reports.

 

 

Y2hh,

 

I agree the video isnt conclusive, but as of now its the only primary evidence I have. What is more interesting is that the police wanted to charge him with manslaughter.

 

 

All of these statements are why that video never should have been released, because everyone's going to try to draw some conclusion from his behavior there (does he look like he's concussed? Is he bleeding badly? Bandaged? No? Guilty!) and really there's no context to anything, so honestly you shouldn't draw any conclusion from it, but it's now officially all we have.

[Y2HH]

All of these statements are why that video never should have been released, because everyone's going to try to draw some conclusion from his behavior there (does he look like he's concussed? Is he bleeding badly? Bandaged? No? Guilty!) and really there's no context to anything, so honestly you shouldn't draw any conclusion from it, but it's now officially all we have.

 

Agreed.

 

Releasing this video just made a few peoples lives harder, but odds are the EMT's are going to be brought in for questioning now, disrupting their lives when all they did was their job. The police that already issued the report will probably be asked the same questions for the 50th time, etc...

 

The problem with the video is it's not all that clear, it's grainy, and even the newscaster that released it said in so many words you can't tell much from it...hell, my iPhone could have recorded better video than that. So, you're right...why'd they release it? Once again poor journalism standards abound. It was for ratings and controversy, not for the good of anyone, or the story itself.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Y2HH

[Balta1701]

So, you're right...why'd they release it? Once again poor journalism standards abound. It was for ratings and controversy, not for the good of anyone, or the story itself.

Because honestly, it's not the responsibility of "journalists" to make sure that "Grainy security camera videos from the police garage" don't get released, its the police department's responsibility. If they're leaking it to you, you might as well assume they're leaking it to 17 other networks and get yours out there first, because you're probably right.

 

Not a matter of journalistic standards to me, much more a matter of police practices.

[Y2HH]

Because honestly, it's not the responsibility of "journalists" to make sure that "Grainy security camera videos from the police garage" don't get released, its the police department's responsibility. If they're leaking it to you, you might as well assume they're leaking it to 17 other networks and get yours out there first, because you're probably right.

 

Not a matter of journalistic standards to me, much more a matter of police practices.

 

It's both, but I agree it falls more on the police department.

 

The police shouldn't have released it, and the "journalists" shouldn't have aired it on a hard news broadcast (if that's what was done, anyway). Something like this belongs on opinion shows or comedy central...when aired on a news broadcast it has "factual" weight it otherwise wouldn't.

[Y2HH]

Ok...I'm going to be the first "white guy" to say it aloud now...because it's reached the point of cliche.

 

Regardless of your race, religion or tribal affiliation, if you weren't already wearing a "hoodie" and carrying an Ice Tea (like Lostfan), on twitter, on facebook, on the news, in public, or elsewhere in order to make a statement...stop and don't bother. It's a bandwagon of "look at me" now, and you missed your opportunity to be original.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

-The Cliche Police

[StrangeSox]

Ok...I'm going to be the first "white guy" to say it aloud now...because it's reached the point of cliche.

 

Regardless of your race, religion or tribal affiliation, if you weren't already wearing a "hoodie" and carrying an Ice Tea (like Lostfan), on twitter, on facebook, on the news, in public, or elsewhere in order to make a statement...stop and don't bother. It's a bandwagon of "look at me" now, and you missed your opportunity to be original.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

-The Cliche Police

 

 

The Daily Show did a good job of making fun of the media over this.

[Y2HH]

The Daily Show did a good job of making fun of the media over this.

 

Is there a video of it online?

[Balta1701]

Is there a video of it online?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
C.N.I.: Cable News Investigators & Dick Cheney's Heart
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
C.N.I.: Cable News Investigators - Hoodie Threat
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

 

[Balta1701]

The Daily Show did a good job of making fun of the media over this.

(Copies post, pastes in 17 different threads, figures his post count is met for the day and gets back to work).

[Y2HH]

Hahah, those videos were hilarious.

 

"Two buttons or less, though...we don't want to end up looking like Steve Harvy" -- awesome.

 

"Rainbow colored fear pellets", when referencing what Skittles are. -- awesome.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Y2HH

[MexSoxFan#1]

Am I the only one who thinks it's lame to be suspicious of young black males because they have a hoodie on? If that's the case, I'm going to be suspicious of middle aged white guys in track suits who look Italian...

[HuskyCaucasian]

Police Video Shows No Blood, Bruises On George Zimmerman After Killing

 

Newly released video of George Zimmerman at the Sanford Police Department the night he shot Trayvon Martin to death show the neighborhood watch volunteer without blood on his clothing or bruises on his face or head. His clean-shaven picture seems to contrast with the violent beating he told police he endured at the hands of Martin, 17, who Zimmerman said attacked him from behind.

 

The video, obtained by ABC News, appears inconsistent with Zimmerman’s recently leaked statement to police that he was in a death struggle with Martin before Zimmerman shot him in the chest in self-defense. Zimmerman told investigators that Martin jumped him from behind, punched him in the nose and pounded his head into a sidewalk, according to a police report first described by the Orlando Sentinal.

 

In the video, apparently taken by surveillance cameras outside and inside the police station, Zimmerman’s face and head are clearly visible and show no injuries consistent with the kind of fight Zimmerman's statement described.

[Y2HH]

Police Video Shows No Blood, Bruises On George Zimmerman After Killing

 

We already discussed this...the video's aren't clear at all, which area all post incident, post EMT's cleaning him up. If they want actual evidence, all they need to do is subpena the medical report from the EMT's that's checked out Zimmerman on the scene and filled out his medical report.

[StrangeSox]

But it certainly doesn't look like someone who was having his head repeatedly smashed into the concrete.

[HuskyCaucasian]

We already discussed this...the video's aren't clear at all, which area all post incident, post EMT's cleaning him up. If they want actual evidence, all they need to do is subpena the medical report from the EMT's that's checked out Zimmerman on the scene and filled out his medical report.

ah ok. sorry for reposting the story. this thread is flying. hard to keep up.

[Y2HH]

Am I the only one who thinks it's lame to be suspicious of young black males because they have a hoodie on? If that's the case, I'm going to be suspicious of middle aged white guys in track suits who look Italian...

 

I'm suspicious of middle aged Italians wearing track suits. Why shouldn't I be? It doesn't make me a racist to be suspicious of people. I'm also suspicious of young kids wearing hoodies, too. Again, why shouldn't I be? Why is it inconceivable to people to be suspicious of suspicious looking people? You know what I'm not very suspicious of? A 90 year old lady walking .005mph with a shopping cart, regardless of her skin color.

 

It's not lame at all to be suspicious of people...it's lame to take that suspicion as far as Zimmerman did. People are looking further into this than necessary. It's natural to pre-judge people on their appearance/clothing. Anyone...I'll repeat that, ANYONE that claims otherwise is a f***ing liar.

[Y2HH]

But it certainly doesn't look like someone who was having his head repeatedly smashed into the concrete.

 

I don't know the actual words used when they described this...did they specifically say concrete? I ask because it comes to my attention that he had grass stains on his shirt, so they say? Perhaps it was dirt/grass he had his head knocked into? I don't know, I never read the official report.

[StrangeSox]

I don't know the actual words used when they described this...did they specifically say concrete? I ask because it comes to my attention that he had grass stains on his shirt, so they say? Perhaps it was dirt/grass he had his head knocked into? I don't know, I never read the official report.

Zimmerman claims his head was being bashed into the sidewalk.

[Balta1701]

Like I said, that's why that video should never have gotten out of the police department's hands.

[StrangeSox]

Your Guide to the Idiotic Racist Backlash Against Trayvon Martin

 

One problem is that to those of us outside the self-shaking horses*** snow globe, smoking weed and having tattoos aren't evidence of anything. Most of us look at all the charges marshaled against Martin and see a kid. Many of us see our friends, or ourselves. There's a tragic irony to the fact that the only people Trayvon Martin was really able to fool into thinking he was anything but a baby-faced high schooler were the same people who think he deserved to be shot.

 

But the other problem is the terms of the debate itself. Whether or not Martin was a good kid or a bad kid, an angel or a thug, a normal teenager or a dangerous deviant, he had every right to walk in the streets of his soon-to-be-stepmother's neighborhood without fear of being shot. A criminal record, a manner of dress, a height: none of these make the shooting of an unarmed, law-abiding teenager justified. And yet here we are, forced to defend Martin's honor, as though if he had been a gangster there'd be nothing to say. As though the minute a black man is anything but a choir boy it's okay to shoot him in the street.

 

We should have known this was coming. Maybe not for most of last week, when for once everyone seemed to be on the same page. But we had to have known it would get here on Friday morning, when Fox News symbolically broke its silence with a Geraldo Rivera segment urging young men of color to stop wearing hoodies — so as not to get shot — the hilariously inept logic of which failed to mask its true intent: to shift the blame for Martin's death back on to Martin.

[caulfield12]

Somehow I knew a video like this would show up somewhere in the middle of the Martin case...to justify whites being afraid of "angry black people."

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-p...-103322121.html

 

Of course, this kind of thing happens everyday in inner-city sports (usually black on black or two minority groups pitted against each other it, it's just that there is no camera there to record the incidents)...from coaching basketball and soccer, I saw a couple of decent fights firsthand, but nothing like this where a girl is down on the ground and gets in 10+ consecutive punches.

 

I really hope if the situation was reversed and it was a white girl in the South doing the same thing to an African-American player that her school likewise wouldn't defend her or back her up in any way.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Your Guide to the Idiotic Racist Backlash Against Trayvon Martin

 

 

The same type of thing happens everyday when many Americans (doesn't matter your skin color) see an Islamic, Middle Eastern-appearing man boarding an airplane, or maybe even a woman wearing a hijab or burka.

 

The main difference is having a doubtful/worried thought and actually acting upon it. Confronting someone physically and having a "reasonable suspicion" their behavior (the "suspicious person's") or actions could or might be considered dangerous.

 

I'm curious how many incidents in the history of Neighborhood Watch there have been where a minority killed a white person in the same fashion? Is there a single similar example in the history of the U.S.?

 

 

from politico.com "Arena" discussion

Ex-St. Rep. Fran Wendelboe

Former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives ® :

 

Yes, it has absolutely become too politicized.

 

Obama should never have ventured into it, celebrities and so on should stay out of it, and the local police should be allowed to do their job. While even I wondered why Zimmerman was not charged initially, hearing some more recent reports of witnesses I now have my doubts as to it being an outright one -sided murder. There is apparently much more to the story. It is odd that the local police did not release more of their reason for not an initial charge. Just as Trayvon Martin was painted as an innocent cherubic young teen we now discover that he was not the perfect child either. Does that have any impact on what happened that night? I don’t know. That is what a grand jury is supposed to do.

 

I support that this has been taken to a grand jury, but the media should get out of the speculating and second guessing and analyzing and trying to disprove everything Zimmerman has said. ABC and their race special last night was just geared to whip up a frenzy. While I am not saying that there are not race issues still in America, I heard one of the people on that show saying even when he is dressed in a suit he notices white people looking at him with fear and cringing.

 

These kinds of over the top statement just feed to whip up turmoil and could trigger race riots. Look at this week’s recent reports that the local head of the Black Panthers in Detroit has said that if the state sends in a team over management of the city as required by state law, that he will have the city of Detroit burned to the ground. Panther Party leader Malik Shabazz declared he would burn the city down. "This is white on black crime," he said during public comment at the two hour meeting held Monday afternoon. Detroit has been primarily governed by blacks for years….how does this correlate to a white/black issue? (that's a rather simple answer, blacks in Detroit ASSUME a takeover by Lansing means a bunch of white bureaucrats coming in to make decisions for or over them, rather than their local African-American bureaucrats).

 

 

Reduce...

For Obama, the media, celebrities and others to continue to whip this tragic event as a race crime is inappropriate. Yes it needs to be investigated, but I fear that if Zimmerman is not charged-no matter what the true facts, that racial discord will be elevated to powder keg level. Is that in anyone’s best interest?

 

The dress code being discussed is not dress down Friday, it was the issue of someone using an outfit to stir up a political statement. Elected officials are required to meet standards of conduct that I believe Rush clearly violated. If he had taken to the well to talk about memorializing Trayvon or to call for an open investigation, that would have been his absolute right as long as done so without rancor.

 

Edited March 29, 2012 by caulfield12

[MexSoxFan#1]

I seriously wouldn't blame you.

 

On second thought, I'll stay outta their way

[Balta1701]

Some of the comments on that video today have at least been interesting. Here's at least 1 of the family's supposed lawyers, I have no idea what "team" they might have assembled, but it caught me as provocative that he chose these words:

"Thank God for surveillance video," said Crump, "because obviously there was a conspiracy to cover up the truth and sweep Trayvon Martin's death under the rug, and as (Martin's mother) Sybrina Fulton said yesterday upon seeing this video, 'This is the icing on the cake.'"

 

Crump said the video, along with a 911 call from the night of the attack, discredit both Zimmerman's account and the initial police report.

 

"We've heard the 911 tapes with our ears, and now we see this video with our eyes," said Crump, "and the family's reaction, like all America, we know now from not anything anybody said but from what we see and from what we hear that that police report is a fabrication."

 

And since we really have so little physical evidence to go on, here's one more comment, I'm not sure if this could count as legitimate testimony if it were ever given under oath since it's not an autopsy.

Richard Kurtz, the funeral director who prepared Martin's body, was asked if there were any signs on his hands that he had punched someone.

 

"The only thing that I was able to see was the gunshot wound," Kurtz told The Last Word. "I could not see evidence like he had been punching somebody as the news media say he was punching ... It just did not add up to me."