The past days have been littered with reaction to the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. Many commenters are reacting in an obviously uninformed manner regarding the result.
With that said, it's important to process an realistic timeline of events as portrayed by the actual call made from George Zimmerman to Non-Emergency dispatch on February 26, 2012, and corroberated by a video re-enactment made by Zimmerman the following day with police investigators.
The video and the call are directly supportive of each other and are easily corroberated via any number of online sources.
TM is walking East on Retreat View Circle toward the clubhouse where GZ is sitting and walks past him 90 seconds into the call – average human walking speed is 264 feet per minute. That would put TM on Twin Trees walking toward the fight location.
- 1:35-1:45 – We can hear GZ put truck in reverse/drive to back out of clubhouse and follow as TM walks past and out of view.
- 2:10 – GZ says, "He's running" and we hear the seatbelt unbuckle and door open. By that time, GZ had traveled approximately 350 feet by truck to the location on the map. It took 25-30 seconds for him to make that drive, which is about 5 mph. GZ indicates that TM is going toward "back entrance" which is near his father's fiancee's home.
GZ runs after on foot, we hear the wind for 32 seconds, at normal jogging speed would mean GZ traveled about 375 feet. That puts GZ just past the "T" path where the fight happened.
- 2:42 – For the next 90 seconds GZ is in the area of the fight giving directions and information to the dispatcher and is unable to see TM.
- Approximately 3 minutes and 30 seconds later, Martin was dead with GZ's flashlight lying next to him.
It is very important that you listen without bias to the call, and listen for the sounds that I have detailed for you. Why? Because George Zimmerman's follow-up video maintained the basic integrity of the event as it can be traced via the call he made.
George Zimmerman clearly lost sight of Trayvon Martin as he exited his truck. He never saw him again while he was on the phone with dispatch, and he had agreed to go and meet police at his truck. This is indesputable and indicates that Zimmerman was not a crazed man, stalking Martin around the community on foot and with a gun drawn. We know that he did not have his gun drawn because he was carrying his flashlight in one hand and holding his cell phone to his ear in the other hand.
Two witnesses to the fight testified that Martin was on top of Zimmerman. John Good testified that, "The color on top was dark and the color at bottom was … red," and that the the person on the bottom had "lighter skin color." Zimmerman was wearing a red jacket.
Is this a tragedy? Of course, it is. Zimmerman was said to be in shock after hearing of Martin's death. But is there any evidence to support the idea that Zimmerman murdered him in cold blood or because of his skin color? Absolutely not. No one is glad a 17 year old kid is dead.