Agreed the chase can be seen as aggression so that alone should get the self defense claim thrown out.
No you can clearly her him running after Treyvon on the 911 call. He tells the operator that Treyvon is starting to run and then you can here Zimmerman running as his voice begins panting while he is talking. It's at this time the operator asks Zimmerman if he is following Treyvon and he tells her he is.
I think there is a significant difference. If someone is running to get away from you and you start chasing him that changes the dynamics of the situation and can be seen as an aggression.
I don't think Zimmerman was trying to apprehend or even confront Treyvon. I think he was just trying keep his eyes on him until the police got there. However, when you are carrying a gun you have a responsibility not to create a volatile situation which results in the death of a person from your gun. I do not think Zimmerman exercised reasonable caution while carrying a gun which is why I think he should be charged with manslaughter.
That's the point I was originally making...it's messed up that the law incentives people to shoot if afraid. I'm not saying the law is terrible, but it needs to be tweaked. As for my personal opinion regardless of the law: If I really was being followed by a car, while I can understand rationalizing the other person's pov later, I'm pretty sure my survival instinct and paranoia would kick in first. Honestly, if I'm walking home at night from the market and I'm not carrying a gun and some dude (not a cop, not security) is following me, I'd crap myself (out of fear and to drop dead weight) and then take off. This Martin-Zimmerman thing is an extremely unusual tragedy, but stick-ups, kidnappings, rapes, and muggings are much much much more common. If you're talking from a pure survival perspective, trying to deescalate a confrontation from some non-cop who is following you home leads to your death more often than if you just ran away and kept running.
For a different perspective: You are a kid in an unfamiliar environment. All of your life you are told not to talk to strangers and look out for mean people trying to steal you. An older man is driving around in his car following you. He gets out of the car, does not identify himself and begins following you on foot.
That's why he went into fight/flight mode....I totally get that. From a survival perspective, Martin chose wrong. You got to go flight because you're unarmed and the other person could be armed. This isn't like a fight at school or even a fight at a bar. Hell, I'd hesitate to go into fight mode at a bar because of the crazies out there who might have a gun.
Interesting. One could argue that we were taught as kids to run and scream for help in this type of situation. But Martin wasn't a child and reacted in an aggressive way, which is kinda hard to fault also. I made a comment earlier that I should perhaps toss my Rockets and Texans hoodies. Then I thought that there isn't a reason to bc of the fact that I'm light-skinned. Kinda messed up if you think about it that way, huh?
Of course it's the Conservatives fault Democrats just aren't mature enough to handle a topic like this.
what sign/s or symptom/s were manifested on the night of the shooting which led investigators to conclude that he had a broken nose?
Police didn't claim he had a broken nose, but rather there was blood from his nose. Attorney and father are making the broken claim.
"You're gonna die tonight.....you're gonna die now..." Not listening to anything the attorny or father says.
Point me to the Republican/Conservative trying to blame Martin's death on Democrats/Liberals and I'll concede.
Rick Santorum is the epitome of radical fundamentalists in your party. If you can't agree with the basic fact that there are radicals on both sides of the political spectrum then I feel sorry for you. The worst thing about political parties is that there are some who over-zealously defend their political party even at the cost of the greater good. Even this basic disagreement we are having now is a microcosm of how politicians debate over policies and debates. In fact politics and religion should have NO place in this thread; have no idea why you are throwing a red herring that clearly serves no purpose in this thread other than to promote your dogmatic political views.
The video really just shows us that his injuries were likely not severe. There was no specification about the amount of blood.
