Wanna be cop symdrom

Off-topic
1

There was this unlucky guy, 17 year old Martin, he got shot and died. Much on the news lately.

My take on it is from the evidence so far. Zimmerman (the shooter) calls the cops and reports a suspicious guy. Phone records show Martin ( the shot man) on his cell to his girl friend saying he is trying to dodge some guy.

Next is near witness accounts of a loud fight, and a gunshot, then quiet. No one claims to have seen what happened except Zimmerman (shooter).

I think Martin did what I would do if a fake cop touched me in an aggressive way on a dark street. I’d of beat the shit out of him, and my guess is Martin was doing just that, when Zimmerman pulled out his gun and shot him. Self defense.

The press is playing up this story as a racial issue . I bet it is more “wanna be cop”. “I am head of neighborhood watch, you must respect my authority”.
I bet Martin smacked him, I know I would of. Then that punk wanna be cop Zimmerman shot him when he was losing the fight.

I bet Zim has a manslaughter charge brewing.

2

I think the “wanna be a cop” prob had something to do w/ it.

But I think race also had a lot to do w/ it. Young black men are often accused of crimes or “suspicious behavior” primarily just from the color of their skin. I’ve had the cops called on me for suspicious behavior several times, most recently last week, just sitting in my car listening to music (it wasn’t loud), doing a crossword.

Listening to various things on the radio related to this story, they told of a reporter who met w/ a class of kids from a black neighborhood on a field trip to a predominantly white neighborhood in the south. Several of the guys got off the school bus and a white woman near by grabbed her daughter untill the white teacher got off. One of the guys said to the reporter something like don’t wory were used to dealing w/ this every day.

3

Maybe he was a nazi responsible for apartheid, global warming and smaller portions of ice cream at country fairs.

No?

Idiot.

4

Charge yes, but conviction possibly no. With no eyewitnesses, it may be hard to prove the details. All we know is that the unarmed kid is dead, and whatever physical evidence that might be on Zimmerman.

What this case tells us is that it’s still not real safe to be black in America. :frowning:

5

Lots of possible corruption with the cop “correcting” the story of witnesses who heard Martin screaming for help, telling her it was the White guy screaming. The cell phone conversation , the history of this reckless racist White guy (with an arrest record) who phones 9-1-1 every time he sees a Black person in the neighborhood, the fact that the White guy disobeyed a police order not to approach Martin, who was not committing a crime nor suspected of anything other than being Black.

If Zimmerman obeyed police orders and remained in his vehicle, Martin would still be alive. The Police Chief has already stepped down.

Bob Dylan sang it well!

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath’rin’
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain’t the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering and his tongue it was snarling
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain’t the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn’t even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger
And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain’t the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all’s equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain’t pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught ‘em
And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin’ that way witout warnin’
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fearsv
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now’s the time for your tears.

More lyrics: Bob Dylan lyrics | LyricsMode.com

6

If Zimmerman is arrested and put on trial, and you were on the jury, would you put in a guilty vote, even if the state can not prove guilt due to the FL law?

7

The “stand your ground” law

This was a tough one for Zim (shooter). He was advised not to pursue, but then pursued. Sorta not like standing still at all. You are allowed to stand your ground, not chase strangers all around the neighborhood as if you are a cop.

Because Martin had no record and a good reason to be there, it would be unlikely he assaulted Zim absent a perceived attack on himself. It is certain he would not have assaulted Zim knowing he would get shot. It is also unlikely Zim just felt like shooting someone.

Therefore, my conclusion is Zim provoked Martin to fight him in an unlawful manner, then shot him. Likely not in a premeditated way. Manslaughter.

8

Part of an OpEd by Charles Blow:
Martin was a smart boy who had taken advanced English and math classes, and he planned to go to college.

He was a hard worker who earned extra money by painting houses, and washing cars and working in the concession of the Pee Wee football league on the weekends. He also baby-sat for his younger cousins, two adorable little girls ages 3 and 7, whom the family called the bunnies, and when he watched the girls he baked them cookies.

The only fight his mother could ever recall his having was with his own brother when Trayvon was about 4 and the brother was 8. They were fighting for her attention, and it wasn’t even a real fight. “They were wrestling. It was so funny,” she said with a smile.

This hardly fits the profile of a menacing teen who would attack a grown man unprovoked, but that is exactly what Zimmerman contends.

Zimmerman’s statement, as related by police, says he was following the boy but “he had lost sight of Trayvon and was returning to his truck to meet the police officer when he says he was attacked by Trayvon.”

Trayvon’s personal account of who initiated the physical encounter is forever lost to the grave, but the initiation is likely to be the central question in the case.

To believe Zimmerman’s scenario, you have to believe that Trayvon, an unarmed boy, a boy so thin that people called him Slimm, a boy whose mother said that he had not had a fight since he was a preschooler, chose that night and that man to attack. [COLOR=“Magenta”]You have to believe that Trayvon chose to attack a man who outweighed him by 100 pounds and who, according to the Sanford police, was wearing his gun in a holster. [/COLOR]You have to believe that Trayvon chose to attack even though he was less than a hundred yards from the safety of the home where he was staying.

This is possible, but hardly sounds plausible.

The key is to determine who was standing his ground and defending himself: the boy with the candy or the man with the gun.

9

Impossible to say, as it would depend on the details of the testimony and evidence in the actual trial. I’ve never sat on a real jury (though I almost have a couple of times). Impossible to know how I would vote in such a situation, but I hope I would do it within the spirit of the law.

So far I haven’t heard anything to indicate a reason to think the kid was the doing the provoking, but this is only the court of public opinion…

10

The vast majority of black people killed, are killed by other black people. If Martin had been killed by a black person, would Jackson, Sharpton and others be marching in the streets? Or if the victim was white and killed by a black person? Never. And one witness says that he heard Zimmerman crying for help after Martin attacked him, breaking his nose, and pounding his head against the concrete. Although Martin was 17, he was much taller taller than Zimmerman.

Hopefully cool heads will prevail and all the facts will come out. But with the black panthers issuing a million dollar “bounty” for the capture of Zimmerman, and others also calling for vigilantly “justice”, again, they would not be doing this if the shooter had been black. No way.

11

Martin fought

Zim was beat up. Zim was a big man , with a gun and a sense that people should respect his authority. Stop when he says stop. Zim has a criminal record, for assaulting an officer. Maybe that cop just didn’t know when he was supposed to stop. Just saying, being arrested for assaulting a cop is a real "wanna be cop " thing. Never gonna get to be a cop, but feels he has the authority. Sure as any cop does.

13

Looking more like wanna be cop

As the details come in, it appears Zim likes authority jobs. He was fired from his last 2 jobs as a security guy, for being to aggressive to the customers. His last job was providing security at a private party, where his co worker said Zim over reacted at a drunk female, picked her up and threw her down, injuring her foot and freaking out everyone at the party he was hired to make feel secure. He was then fired.

Wanna be cop is all over this guy. I never bought the racist angle. That is so 1960 ish. In my neighborhood, it is very black, white and mixed. No one cares. Martin also lived in a mixed neighborhood , such as mine, and racial tension is about zero. Actually, the Haitians go out of their way to be nice. The idea that in mixed race neighborhoods we are all clutching a gun as the opposite walks by is nuts. I am not not afraid of anyone in my hood, but if I was it would because he was a nut who caries a gun and had a cop complex, not because of race .

I am a bit surprised that they are charging Zim with 2nd degree murder. I think he thought he was helping his community by patrolling for free and detaining suspect burglars. When a 240 lb guy grabbed him, Martin fought him, as he should, then Zim shot him, and Martin died.

Zim could not get hired as a cop. He could not keep a job as a security officer for private parties. He then called 911 many times in his self appointed role as unpaid cop, living out his fantasy. Then he shot a much smaller unarmed man who had a good reason to be there. Wanna be cop.

14

The other thing that’s screwing Zim

Not to go all Dexter on you guys (great TV show) , but blood splatter matters. I think the reason Zim is getting hit with 2nd degree rather than manslaughter is the blood. He has a witness who says Zim was on the bottom, being beaten, as Zim says. Shot him in the chest, had to.

Call in Dexter (you should watch this TV show, it’s creepy but cool), and Dexter can see no blood on Zim. If Martin was above Zim when he was shot in the chest, blood should have gushed out of Martin and been all over Zim, yet that was not observed. So the 2nd degree murder charge. Zim shot an unarmed man in cold blood and lied about it, and the DA is going to try to prove it. He lied.

15

You would choose the spirit of the law over true justice and your own conscience?

Radical legislation could require judges to tell criminal juries the undisputed fact that they have “the power to judge the law as well as the evidence, and to vote on the verdict according to conscience.”

16

I don’t need to know the neighborhood was racially mixed, I’d like to know the racial breakdown of the Gated Community Mr. Zimmerman’s gated community, a 260-unit housing complex, sits in a racially mixed suburb of Orlando, Fla. Mr. Martin’s “suspicious” profile amounted to more than his black skin. He was profiled as young, loitering, non-property-owning and poor. Based on their actions, police officers clearly assumed Mr. Zimmerman was the private property owner and Mr. Martin the dangerous interloper. After all, why did the police treat Mr. Martin like a criminal, instead of Mr. Zimmerman, his assailant? Why was the black corpse tested for drugs and alcohol, but the living perpetrator wasn’t?

17

The wannabee cop thing sounds like Zimmerman’s possible motivation. I heard a radio commentator, who used to be a cop, come up with the same idea on this, based on his experience with non-cops who tried too hard to be cops.

If true, the testimony will probably change accordingly. Or it could be true. People are bad enough at holding still to get their picture taken; they move around a lot more when in a “scuffle” and it’s possible he got shot from below, but was already moving and no blood got on the Zimmerman. Or also possible that he disposed of an outer layer of clothing? Probably not. In any case, depending on the ammunition used and the type of wound, it might not bleed instantly, like an exploding blood pack.

Probably not. What I meant was, I would follow the instructions of the judge in how to interpret the law vs. my understandings of the facts, vs. my conscience. Should my conscience be a factor?

Good questions.