Neighborhood watch captain shoots unarmed teen.

[TJ]

Even with the laundry list of inaccuracies, indiscretions, unprofessional, if not downright illegal, behavior, and the overall mismanagement of this case, it speaks volumes about Sanford, FL's government when the no-confidence vote on the police chief was only 3-2. Apparently 40% of the Sanford, FL governing body thinks the police chief was overseeing good enough work to continue his job.

[Armybrat]

Even with the laundry list of inaccuracies, indiscretions, unprofessional, if not downright illegal, behavior, and the overall mismanagement of this case, it speaks volumes about Sanford, FL's government when the no-confidence vote on the police chief was only 3-2. Apparently 40% of the Sanford, FL governing body thinks the police chief was overseeing good enough work to continue his job.

Well, considering that 40%-48% of the electorate think the POTUS is doing a "good job", why does that surprise you?

apologies for the CR analogy.

[Snacks]

take.
that $#@!.
back to CR.

[Armybrat]

[oSuJeff97]

Calm down everyone... I'm 100% sure that if this was a case of a 250-pound black male shooting and killing a 17-year-old white high school student who makes all As and Bs, this would have all been handled the exact same way.

[THujone]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! if he did this to my kid.

[Armybrat]

take.
that $#@!.
back to CR.

oh you so clever

Just pointing out the general cluelessness, which can apply almost everywhere.

But I apologize for my rudeness.

[jester]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! if he did this to my kid.

This. He'd be one dead $#@!.

[CowboyFred]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! if he did this to my kid.

Agree

[MrPhlegm]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! S L O W L Y if he did this to my kid.

very slowly, it would take WEEKS to kill this $#@!

[NYCLonghorn]

very slowly, it would take WEEKS to kill this $#@!

John Doe thinks you're an amateur

[Eskimohorn]

Calm down everyone... I'm 100% sure that if this was a case of a 250-pound black male shooting and killing a 17-year-old white high school student who makes all As and Bs, this would have all been handled the exact same way.

[Eskimohorn]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! if he did this to my kid.

[jzimo]

I don't think I could stop myself from killing this $#@! if he did this to my kid.

I would take notes from this movie.

[DoobieWah]

Why is this a six page thread?

The guy had the right to carry a firearm.

He used it to kill an unarmed 17-year old kid. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Next case.

[BlueGreySky06]

Why is this a six page thread?

The guy had the right to carry a firearm.

He used it to kill an unarmed 17-year old kid. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Next case.

Because he's still not arrested yet and it looks as though the PD is looking turn this case into a sloppy mess like stoops, a bag-o-$#@!s, and some thousand island dressing.

[al pastor]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012...h.html?_r=1&hp

AP wire says Buford T Justice is stepping down

[MirrOlure]

......"temporarily" stepping down. You know....til all this BS is over.

[Mizzou415]

[DoobieWah]

Why is this a six page thread?

The guy had the right to carry a firearm.

He used it to kill an unarmed 17-year old kid. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Next case.

Because he's still not arrested yet and it looks as though the PD is looking turn this case into a sloppy mess like stoops, a bag-o-$#@!s, and some thousand island dressing.

Did you miss this part?

[TJ]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012...h.html?_r=1&hp

AP wire says Buford T Justice is stepping down

3-2 vote of no confidence. It was either step down or be removed.

[al pastor]

[Mister Falcon]

Did you miss this part?

Did you miss the part where he hasn't been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?

[BigOrange]

well the guy holding the "pic" portion of the banner clearly doesn't.

[MirrOlure]

Lol at the dude in purple on the right. Looks suspiciously like an upper crust black dude trying but failing to look suspicious.

[Huckleberry]

Lol at the dude in purple on the right. Looks suspiciously like an upper crust black dude trying but failing to look suspicious.

Lol at you for thinking the one that doesn't have the hood completely over his head is the one that doesn't look suspicious. I guess black teenagers are screwed in your neighborhood if it's raining. Hahaha.

edit - Tapaderp. Left out "completely" at first.

[al pastor]

well the guy holding the "pic" portion of the banner clearly doesn't.

seeing him made me crack up, "one of these things is not like the other, one of these..."

[Staboned]

Calm down everyone... I'm 100% sure that if this was a case of a 250-pound black male shooting and killing a 17-year-old white high school student who makes all As and Bs, this would have all been handled the exact same way.

while i haven't read this thread, been traveling, i just wanted to add i hope that race isn't the only thing discussed here. that would be making this a bit too narrow IMO, and also too easy for the nimwit media to run with. there is also some general societal problems, fear, and issues with this guy that pulled the trigger. he seems like a loon and folks new it, and it was apparently the norm for them. that speaks volumes on crime, fear of crime, and how we deal with it.

[erniefromclass]

uh oh, for me they're proving the wrong point here.

[The Missing Link]

Why is this a six page thread?

The guy had the right to carry a firearm.

He used it to kill an unarmed 17-year old kid. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Next case.

Second degree murder imo, but I'll except voluntary manslaughter.

[oSuJeff97]

while i haven't read this thread, been traveling, i just wanted to add i hope that race isn't the only thing discussed here. that would be making this a bit too narrow IMO, and also too easy for the nimwit media to run with. there is also some general societal problems, fear, and issues with this guy that pulled the trigger. he seems like a loon and folks new it, and it was apparently the norm for them. that speaks volumes on crime, fear of crime, and how we deal with it.

Agree that the dude who pulled the trigger is a loon.

But if you don't think race played a part in how the Barney Fife local PD handled this case, you're nuts.

I will not believe for one $#@!ing second that if it were a white 17-year-old high school student who was gunned down that these local yokels would have handled the case in the same way.

Had that been the case, I have no doubt that this neighborhood watch wacko would have been arrested and thrown the $#@! in jail, post haste.

[da_clean_up_man]

Agree that the dude who pulled the trigger is a loon.

But if you don't think race played a part in how the Barney Fife local PD handled this case, you're nuts.

I will not believe for one $#@!ing second that if it were a white 17-year-old high school student who was gunned down that these local yokels would have handled the case in the same way.

Had that been the case, I have no doubt that this neighborhood watch wacko would have been arrested and thrown the $#@! in jail, post haste.

Even faster if the neighborhood watch wacko was black. After the customary beat down while he was "resisting arrest" of course.

[Staboned]

Agree that the dude who pulled the trigger is a loon.

But if you don't think race played a part in how the Barney Fife local PD handled this case, you're nuts.

I will not believe for one $#@!ing second that if it were a white 17-year-old high school student who was gunned down that these local yokels would have handled the case in the same way.

Had that been the case, I have no doubt that this neighborhood watch wacko would have been arrested and thrown the $#@! in jail, post haste.

i didn't say anywhere that i didn't think race is an issue.

it would have been a big deal if the shooter was black. holy hell.

[Armybrat]

Bernard?

[NYCLonghorn]

Obama just said that if he had a son he'd look like Trayvon. Damn.

Zimmerman is toast.

[Rocko20]

Million Hoodie March:









http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...-martin/50186/

[riloh05]

What the $#@! is a white Hispanic? Mother $#@!ing media and their $#@!ing agenda.

[Bat Guan0]

The issue nobody seems to be discussing here (unless I missed it) is whether the 'Stand your Ground' law had anything to do with the kid getting killed. I think it's pretty clear that it did.

Granted are the following observations: Zimmerman was an out-of-control vigilante who probably watched too many Charles Bronson movies and pretty much murdered the kid in cold blood. The police force handled the case about as badly as they possibly could have, and appear to be protecting Zimmerman, for whatever reasons, one of which certainly appears to be the race of Trayvon Martin.

Now, if the law were interpreted the way its writer intended - he was on several tv shows recently and has said that in this case the shooter should not be protected under the law - Zimmerman would be in jail awaiting trial and likely conviction. Nevertheless, he clearly thought the 'Stand your ground' law would protect him in hunting down a black kid he apparently thought was up to no good. Had the law not existed, he would not have felt free to 1) follow the kid in the first place; 2) confront him; and 3) shoot him. He obviously thought the law would protect him on a self-defense assertion, and consequently felt freer than he would have otherwise to fulfill his cop wanna-be fantasies. So even though it was misinterpreted in Zimmerman's and, apparently, the local PD's, minds, the existence of the law partially contributed to the death of an innocent young man.

People will always try to stretch laws beyond what they are originally intended to do; the SYG law has been invoked in defense of gang-bangers and drug dealers, basically a catch-all shoot first defense (sure, it doesn't apply if you're engaged in a crime, but that question is open for litigation as well). And that's not counting the jackasses like Zimmerman and the Sanford PD, who are either too stupid or too corrupt or whatever to apply it correctly. The point is, the farther it goes in giving people the right to use deadly force against someone else and get away with it, the farther it will be stretched. To the point where, in this case, if there weren't any subsequent publicity, Zimmerman may very well have gotten away with murder. Well, $#@!, he still might, and even if he doesn't, Trayvon Martin is still dead, and arguably would not be without the SYG law.

[Wally Banger]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...-martin/50186/

Protesting cold-blooded murder wearing a Che t-shirt....

[GringoSalado]

Nevertheless, he clearly thought the 'Stand your ground' law would protect him in hunting down a black kid he apparently thought was up to no good. Had the law not existed, he would not have felt free to 1) follow the kid in the first place; 2) confront him; and 3) shoot him. He obviously thought the law would protect him on a self-defense assertion, and consequently felt freer than he would have otherwise to fulfill his cop wanna-be fantasies.

This is quite a leap you are making. So if the average person could potentially misinterpret the law, that means we should not have passed it?

[Armybrat]

This is quite a leap you are making. So if the average person could potentially misinterpret the law, that means we should not have passed it?

No kidding.

Zimmerman is a dumb$#@!.

[Bat Guan0]

This is quite a leap you are making. So if the average person could potentially misinterpret the law, that means we should not have passed it?

That's one way of putting it. When the stakes are the life of an innocent person, and the reality is that laws WILL be misinterpreted at some point, you have to try to reduce the possibility for misinterpretation and the consequences for misinterpretation. Anything that can be (mis)interpreted as carte blanche to shoot someone for walking through the neighborhood may be taking things a step too far.

[Dillo Pad]

So hoodies are suspicious now? WTF?

[Bat Guan0]

No kidding.

Zimmerman is a dumb$#@!.

Sure. And there are a hell of alot of dumbfucks out there, too.

[Armybrat]

Protesting cold-blooded murder wearing a Che t-shirt....

Irony in action.

But why do they cover their faces?

[Armybrat]

Sure. And there are a hell of alot of dumbfucks out there, too.

There certainly are.

[catdaddyhorn]

What the $#@! is a white Hispanic? Mother $#@!ing media and their $#@!ing agenda.

Somebody has obviously never filled out a census form, or any form, for that matter, asking for your race and ethnicity.

[BlueGreySky06]

This is quite a leap you are making. So if the average person could potentially misinterpret the law, that means we should not have passed it?

Methinks this $#@!stain wasn't your "average" person. He was a bat $#@! crazy self-empowered wannabe vigilante. The law probably didn't have anything to do with bolstering him up to do something like this. Crazy is crazy and I think he'd have done something like this eventually either way.

[Dillo Pad]

[Mizzou415]

well the guy holding the "pic" portion of the banner clearly doesn't.

Yeah, I can't really tell if that guy is white or just Austin Rivers black.