Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
There are two sides of this - Most of us have had more than a few fist fights, never considered them life threatening, and never had to go to the doctor or hospital. On the other hand, a single strike in the right place can kill a man, or in the case of Jay the first strike can be more than enough to take out a man.
It seems to me Zimmerman was on the loosing end of a smack down. He got a bloody lip. Was it life threatening? Hardly. This was a scuffle and a fist fight that Zimmerman was loosing.
Here's what I think happened....
- Zimmerman saw Martin, didn't recognize him, and thought he looked suspicious.
- Zimmerman pulled his truck over, called police, and watched Martin.
- Zimmerman gets out of his truck and starts to follow him.
- Martin, who is on the cell phone, notices this, see he is armed (Zimmerman had the firearm in his waistband in plain sight?) and decides to take action.
- Martin ducks out of sight, loosing Zimmerman. Zimmerman reports this to the police, hangs up, and moves back towards his truck.
- Martin confronts Zimmerman, surprising him, pops Zimmerman in the face taking him down, and Martin jumps on top of Zimmerman and starts beating on him.
- Zimmerman shoots Martin, killing him.
I am "guessing" it was Martin who attacked Zimmerman, mostly because Martin seems to have gotten the jump on Zimmerman and quickly controlled the situation. Either that or Zimmerman confronted Martin, hit first, but Martin got the upper hand. But I don't think who hit first is too important; Martin thought he was being pursued by a man with a firearm tucked in his waistband and felt the need to protect himself.
This is going to boil down to if the jury thinks Zimmerman had the right to shoot Martin because Zimmerman thought his life was in danger. I think Zimmerman thought his life was in danger and / or panicked. In the head of the moment when another man is on top of you beating you up, that is a very difficult call to make.
Zimmerman's injuries weren't life threatening. He didn't got to the hospital, and didn't need to see a doctor. He didn't get any medical attention. He got a fat lip and a few cuts. |
I have a feeling that Zimmerman and Martin met up, Martin asked Zimmerman why he was following him and Zimmerman told him that he was suspicious looking (or something like this perhaps even asking him why he was in the area). Martin says fuck it and tries to walk away and Zimmerman grabbed him by the hoodie to try to keep him from leaving and that was potentially the catalyst that started the fight.
I don't know if Martin punched first or not. It could have been kind of a tussle where they were pushing and kind of wrestling. All it takes is one good shot to the face and most people will go down. After Martin got that shot off on Zimmerman he got on top of him and was working him over and that is when Zimmerman shot and killed him.
Obviously, there were no witnesses that saw how the fight started or how the confrontation occurred so we can only go off of guesses. According to the testimony Zimmerman said that Martin came up to him as he was heading back to his truck while Martin's friend said that Zimmerman approached Martin and Martin stopped walking to confront him and ask him why he was following him. It is hard to say which is accurate.