George Zimmerman won't face charges anytime soon
By Yamiche Alcindor
September 11, 2013, 6:13 p.m. EDT
USA TODAY
Geroge [sic] Zimmerman, far right, is escorted to a home by a Lake Mary police officer, center, and Shawn Vincent, an assistant to his attorney, on Sept. 9, 2013, in Lake Mary, Fla., after a domestic incident in the neighborhood where Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, had lived during his murder trial.(Photo: John Raoux, AP)
Story Highlights
- Police are investigating a confrontation between Zimmerman and his estranged wife
- Officials need information from an iPad before any charges can be brought
- The iPad was severely damaged and officials don't know when they will access it
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George Zimmerman won't face charges anytime soon in connection with a dispute he had with his estranged wife and his father-in-law, police in Lake Mary, Fla., said Wednesday.
Still, a the police report about what happened Monday at the home once shared by Shellie Zimmerman and her husband, who was acquitted in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in July, shows that the confrontation quite got heated.
The incident began as Shellie Zimmerman picked up some belongings from the home, according the report. She told police she had arranged to gather some things but that her husband showed up and started taking pictures of her.
George Zimmerman says he was documenting his wife "taking property that was not agreed upon and he began taking pictures and recording the items." In response, Shellie Zimmerman says she began recording her husband's actions on her iPad.
From here, the couple's versions of the day differ.
George Zimmerman says he went into the home, locked the front door but was attacked by his father-in-law who "charged him" in the garage. Shellie Zimmerman then began hitting her husband on his back with her iPad, the former neighborhood watch volunteer told police. George Zimmerman says he smashed the iPad to stop the attack.
Shellie Zimmerman's side: Her husband hit her father as the two argued about the property she was taking. She was recording the fight on her iPad when George Zimmerman grabbed the device, "smashed it on his knee" and cut it open with his pocket knife.
On Monday, Shellie Zimmerman told a 911 dispatcher that her husband struck her father in the nose and threatened both father and daughter while putting a hand on a gun. After police arrived, she decided not to press charges against her husband.
Shellie Zimmerman also later dropped her claim that a gun was involved. Officers did not recover a gun from the scene. The police report also says no one saw a gun or heard George Zimmerman threaten anyone with a firearm.
Officials now say they can't get to possible video of the fight that might be on the iPad.
"The iPad is in really bad shape," said officer Zach Hudson, a spokesman for the Lake Mary Police Department. "At this point, we do not have the tools available to effectively look at the video on the iPad."
He added that there was also some "chip damage" to the device and that officials think information from the device could be inaccessible for a long time.
"As it stands right now, there will not be any charges anytime soon without that iPad," Hudson said.
A neighborhood surveillance camera recorded some of the confrontation but the footage doesn't provide much detail, according to the police report.
In an audio recording of Shellie Zimmerman's 911 call, she can be heard sobbing. "I'm really scared,'' she tells police. In the report released Wednesday, she told police she felt "shocked, powerless, and shaken."
In the divorce petition, Shellie Zimmerman says she and her husband separated a month after Zimmerman was acquitted of any crime for fatally shooting Martin. The verdict sparked protests across the nation.
Zimmerman has been pulled over at least twice for speeding since his acquittal.
[Is that because he's a speed demon, or because (black) cops have written down his license plate number and car make, and are targeting him?]
It is my firm belief that Shellie Zimmerman was trying to get her soon to be ex husband killed by the police. She was well aware how volatile her statement that he was armed would be, and note that her chief demand in the divorce is an insurance policy on his life.
ReplyDeleteWe've heard of "blue suicide", when someone is agitated and takes actions that will result his own death (a.k.a. "suicide by cop").. I think this was to have been a case of "blue murder".
3099George is going about his life rather fearlessly, one might say recklessly. He may not understand that he better watch his butt.
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