Neighborhood Watch guy chases down a kid, shoots him, charged with 2nd-degree murder

[FastFreddie]

I don't mean to make light of a serious situation, but I thought this picture was funny (mostly because of the look on her face)....

[det2orl]

This was handled wrong from the beginning, by EVERYONE involved. By everyone I mean Zimmerman, Trayvon, the DA, the police, everyone.

Zimmerman for being just an idiot with a gun, and thinking he can take the law into his own hands, when the law was telling him not to do anything and that they were on their way, and instead of saying to the kid Hey I am so and so and I am part of the neighborhood watch in this area, just thought I would say hello and see if you needed a ride home since it's raining out. He just goes all wacko on this kid.

Trayvon, instead of running could have just said, hey look, I am just going home my dad lives on this such and such street, and I'm okay with walking in the rain peace out. Instead he bolts. (Although him bolting is not in ANY way justification for shooting the kid).

The police should have at least held Zimmerman over night ask a bunch of questions all night long, get to the bottom of what happened, and apply the law accordingly which is you arrest him, book him and have a hearing and allow the DA and the courts to figure it out.

The DA is just an idiot for trying to apply this stand your ground self defense law in the wrong way. This was not self defense this was just flat out manslaughter.

Do laws like the stand your ground and other castle type laws belong on the books, you're damn right they do. If someone I do not not know tries to enter my home, forcefully he's getting a 9mm hollow point somewhere. I should have that right to protect myself, my wife, my son and my property. The person trying to take any one of those things does not have more rights than I do.

But in this case, Zimmerman was in no danger, and if he was in danger, he put himself there. That is not self defense, that is instigation, and that's 5 minutes in the box my friend.

It's been said many times that tragedies like this happen because of the combination of several errors in judgement, it just so happens that for everyone involved they made errors in judgement.

Heart does go out to this kids family, who lost their son over nothing, because some guy though that he was above the law who had a gun.

Hmmmm.........a very large guy approaches/follows you in the middle of a rainy night and you should stop and talk to him?

Trayvon may have thought the dude was trying to rob/kidnap/anything him. There hasn't been any report of Zimmerman identifying himself as part of the neighborhood watch. No reports of clothing that would identify him as such either. In fact, there has been no report of any conversation between the two.

Remember he was visiting his father and his GF. This wasn't his neighborhood so I imagine it was unfamiliar territory for the most part. He was trying to get back to the place he was visiting.

More importantly, why is Trayvon obligated to stop and explain anything to any non-police officer?

Only thing I could say that he should've done differently is if he felt threatened he should've got off the phone with the girl and called the police but then you get back to the having to trust police thing................

This situation is very troubling for me. It could easily have been one of my teen-aged nephews. He was on the phone and prolly wanted a little privacy and was just kind of wandering. I've done the same thing plenty of times in my neighborhood. As an adult I would say "WTF is your problem" to Zimmerman? As a 140 lb teenager and I see a 250 lb man following me and coming at me in the night, I'm prolly haulin ass too!!

[sseelhoff]

What did he say?

Geraldo is blaming this on the fact that the young man was wearing a hoodie. He beleives that hooded sweatshirts are "gangster wear", and that buy a) wearing a sweatshirt that is so obviously gangster related and b) pulling the hood over his head so that Zimmerman could not see that a clean cut kid he was, that this somehow caused or contributed to Zimmerman's reaction to Trayvon. He's advocating that parents talk to the kids, and discourage them from wearing hoodies, since wearing them sends the wrong message.

He was serious.

[det2orl]

Geraldo is blaming this on the fact that the young man was wearing a hoodie. He beleives that hooded sweatshirts are "gangster wear", and that buy a) wearing a sweatshirt that is so obviously gangster related and b) pulling the hood over his head so that Zimmerman could not see that a clean cut kid he was, that this somehow caused or contributed to Zimmerman's reaction to Trayvon. He's advocating that parents talk to the kids, and discourage them from wearing hoodies, since wearing them sends the wrong message.

He was serious.

Wow that is idiotic. I guess it is Trayvon's fault after all

So now we should outlaw hoodies I guess.

Never mind that is was reportedly drizzling/raining. He should've left his head uncovered so as not to be perceived as a threat.......I mean a gangster

[det2orl]

[sseelhoff]

Harvard Law Posse in the hizzle.

Those dudes are pure gangsta. They all carry 8.5x11s, and they'll slap a suit on your ass faster than you can say shyster.

[det2orl]

[EvenflowTen]

Hmmmm.........a very large guy approaches/follows you in the middle of a rainy night and you should stop and talk to him?

Trayvon may have thought the dude was trying to rob/kidnap/anything him. There hasn't been any report of Zimmerman identifying himself as part of the neighborhood watch. No reports of clothing that would identify him as such either. In fact, there has been no report of any conversation between the two.

Remember he was visiting his father and his GF. This wasn't his neighborhood so I imagine it was unfamiliar territory for the most part. He was trying to get back to the place he was visiting.

More importantly, why is Trayvon obligated to stop and explain anything to any non-police officer?

Only thing I could say that he should've done differently is if he felt threatened he should've got off the phone with the girl and called the police but then you get back to the having to trust police thing................

This situation is very troubling for me. It could easily have been one of my teen-aged nephews. He was on the phone and prolly wanted a little privacy and was just kind of wandering. I've done the same thing plenty of times in my neighborhood. As an adult I would say "WTF is your problem" to Zimmerman? As a 140 lb teenager and I see a 250 lb man following me and coming at me in the night, I'm prolly haulin ass too!!

I'm not saying he had to, I was just throwing out a way that things could have been handled differently by everyone involved. And I would say that Zimmerman not identifying himself or saying anything other than just start chasing the kid. It just falls inline with one of the many errors in judgement that led to this whole tragedy.

[The_Real_Right_Way]

Referring to me?


Has nothing to do with my obvious underlying racism per det2orl (or just idiocy as he says)... It has to do with every conversation already had in this thread regarding vigilante's, angry mobs and how the whole situation has become extremely racially charged.

I don't give a sh!t if it was Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Arabic... Given how this is being perceived as a hate crime, I would be tentative to go down any demonstration where I know there will be plenty of over emotional idiots present who could be act of violently.

It has to do with idiots. That's what I would be wary of... Not race. Every nationality has plenty of them. Ours is JDC.

However... No surprise that idiot det2orl turned my comment into a racial issue. Pretty predictable there.

If you were concerned about idiots why didn't you say that upfront instead of what you actually said until someone made a comment about what you actually said. It always amazes me when someone says something stupid but then it is the person who calls them out that they blame instead of owning up to the fact that they made a stupid comment or just merely clarifying what they "now mean."

I also wonder why the labeling of this as a, "hate crime" has any significance to your comments.

Don't you think the people watching this do not easily come to the conclusion that this is a hate crime based on the circumstances surrounding this murder. Do you think that people do not have the capacity to look at the circumstances and come to their own conclusion about what this is, but somehow labeling it a hate crime magically changes peoples level of anger and incites them to riot when they otherwise would not if it wasn't labeled a hat crime?

[joeking1978]

If you were concerned about idiots why didn't you say that upfront instead of what you actually said until someone made a comment about what you actually said. It always amazes me when someone says something stupid but then it is the person who calls them out that they blame instead of owning up to the fact that they made a stupid comment or just merely clarifying what they "now mean."

I also wonder why the labeling of this as a, "hate crime" has any significance to your comments.

Don't you think the people watching this do not easily come to the conclusion that this is a hate crime based on the circumstances surrounding this murder. Do you think that people do not have the capacity to look at the circumstances and come to their own conclusion about what this is, but somehow labeling it a hate crime magically changes peoples level of anger and incites them to riot when they otherwise would not if it wasn't labeled a hat crime?

For most it is implied... for people like you and det2orl that always assume there is a racial undertone, I suppose it isn't.


If labeling it as a hate crime or racially motivated doesn't increase the level of anger and attention it gets... why are there not threads on the story Gazoo posted? Why are there no threads on any black on black crimes that happened to children recently? white on white? hispanic on hispanic? If it wasn't... why would you have posted this:

We finally agree on something.

With regard to, "not seeing racism at every turn," this happens to be so blatant that even those that typically don't want to acknowledge that racism still impacts the lives of many on a daily basis, can't even ignore it.

or this?

Not really....the aspect of race baiting is just a over used distraction particularly in this case. Race is a central issue because the young man was targeted because of his race. The race of the perp. doesn't change that.

So you mean to tell me that there would not be a few idiots who share the same sentiment as you and would look to get an eye for an eye. Or as MCJ said- a hate crime for a hate crime?

Again- it could have been a white child killed by a black man, asian or arabic... the race doesn't matter. Its the premise that does and the idiots who will want vigilante justice any way they can get it.

Again, this all seems obvious. I'm not sure why I waste my time replying to you

[det2orl]

http://bcove.me/nhqw4xja