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More Details Of George Zimmerman's Story Emerge

Paige Brettingen |
March 30, 2012 | 9:33 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Drawing of George Zimmerman (Courtesy of Creative Commons, DonkeyHotey)
Drawing of George Zimmerman (Courtesy of Creative Commons, DonkeyHotey)
As fury over the Trayvon Martin case surmounts with protests around the country, one thing about the case has become clear: the more details are released, the more confusing it gets.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch member, who shot and killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin on February 26, said to police that Martin slammed his head on the sidewalk.

According to CNN, Zimmerman was on his way to the grocery store when he noticed Martin in his gated community.  He called police and described that Martin was acting strangely and may have been on drugs:

 

  • "Something's wrong with him," he told a 911 dispatcher, according to the contents of a call released by authorities. "Yep. He's coming to check me out. He's got something in his hands."
  • The teenager started to run, Zimmerman said. A 911 dispatcher asked Zimmerman whether he was following Martin, and Zimmerman said he was. The dispatcher said Zimmerman did not need to do that.
  • Zimmerman said he lost sight of Martin and began walking back to his SUV; Martin approached him, according to the Sentinel account.
  • Martin asked Zimmerman if he had a problem; Zimmerman said no and reached for his cell phone, he told police.
  • Martin said, "Well, you do now" or something similar and punched Zimmerman in the nose, Zimmerman said, according to the Sentinel.
  • Zimmerman said Martin pinned him to the ground and began slamming his head into the sidewalk. The police report described Zimmerman's back as wet and covered with grass, as though he had been lying on the ground.
  • Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and the back of his head, the police report said.
  • "I was yelling for someone to help me, but no one would help me," Zimmerman told police.
  • By the time police arrived on the scene, Martin was dead from a gunshot wound in the chest, according to Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee. The unarmed teenager was lying face-down.

Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., told CBS Thursday night, calling George "the neighbor everyone would want to have."

  • "You return force with force when somebody assaults you. George was out of breath, he was barely conscious," [Robert] Zimmerman said. "There would have been George dead if he had not acted decisively and instantaneously in that moment when he was being disarmed."
  • "This is a tragedy. Her son was lost," he said trying to send a message to Martin's mother. "I feel very badly about that and I want, in the end, not for her son's memory to be seen as how we degraded our system and turned it into mob rule and went into a hate speech. Ultimately, we all wish that this was a different situation."

Robert Zimmerman said he believed the medical records will help prove George Zimmerman's motive.  In contrast to the "good neighbor" portrait his family has been describing, a former co-worker told New York Daily News that Zimmerman had a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality and that he was fired from his job as security guard for being overly aggressive.

  • “Usually he was just a cool guy. He liked to drink and hang with the women like the rest of us,” he said. “But it was like Jekyll and Hyde. When the dude snapped, he snapped.”

The source said Zimmerman, who made between $50 and $100 a night, was let go in 2005.

  • “He had a temper and he became a liability,” the man said. “One time this woman was acting a little out of control. She was drunk. George lost his cool and totally overreacted,” he said. “It was weird, because he was such a cool guy, but he got all nuts. He picked her up and threw her. It was pure rage. She twisted her ankle. Everyone was flipping out.”

Despite Zimmerman's outbursts, the co-worker said he was shocked to hear about the shooting.

  • “He definitely loved being in charge. He loved the power. Still, I could never see him killing someone. Never,” he said.

In the meantime, protests continue around the country- demanding that George Zimmerman be arrested while the case continues to be investigated.

[View the story "Zimmerman's Family Speaks Out" on Storify]



 

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