Police handling of killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford is Florida's shame

Trayvon Martin EDGEWATER -- I am confused about why the police did not arrest Trayvon Martin’s (alleged) killer. Why did the community then the NAACP, then the country have to get up in arms and protest before anyone even considered doing something to bring justice for this kid who went to the store for Skittles and an iced tea but never returned home?

It is on record that this so-called neighborhood watch person had made many, many 9-1-1 calls and seemed to be centering on young black people. The dispatcher told him not to follow Trayvon and he did so anyway. I agree with a woman I saw on television last night who asked: “How can you shoot someone in self defense if he is moving away from you at the time.”

The police still insist they were correct in their judgment -- even now cannot or will not admit they may not have made the best decisions in this case. This man needs to be brought to court to have it determined if he was justified in this shooting. Since he was not a police officer, I see no way to make that case, but the police seem to feel there is enough evidence to not bring him to jail.

 

NSBNEWS.net Investigative Reporting

Previous coverage click below:

Justice for Trayvon: A Search for AnswersTrayvon Martin

Funny they won’t tell us what that evidence is. They never questioned Trayvon’s girlfriend who was on the phone with him while all this was going on. Apparently they didn’t feel she could add anything they didn’t know, even though she is as close to an eyewitness as she could come without being there in person.

 

I am so upset that this boy is dead and also that we (Florida) are again becoming a laughing stock state because the NAACP, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others have had to come here and appear on television to make our police do the right thing. We are better than this. So now it goes to a grand jury because the police won’t admit they may have handled this inappropriately.

How sad.

I don’t blame the family and friends of this young man for demanding the police chief’s resignation. If he has no better control of his force or his neighborhood watch people than that he deserves to let someone else do the job. If the shooter had been arrested in the beginning he may have already been exonerated by now. Instead it looks more and more as though he is getting away with murder.

If he is actually innocent let him prove it in a court of law. If the situation were reversed, you can bet Trayvon would be sitting in a jail cell today. He wouldn’t have been given this leeway.

Some say this case isn’t about race because the shooter is Hispanic. I disagree. Makes no matter what your color of skin is you can be prejudiced and believe a black kid in your neighborhood is up to something or on drugs as this man said clearly in his 9-1-1 call. Just because he thought it didn’t make it true and he should have let the police handle things. Only he and Trayvon actually know the truth and one of them can’t plead his case so others are doing it for him.

My condolences to Trayvon’s family and friends. RIP Trayvon.

Editor's Note: Blogger Darlene Vann states above that if the alleged shooter is "actually innocent, let him prove it in a court of law." To be clear about this, anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent up to or until found guilty in a court of law. The burden of prtoof rests solely with the state; not with the accused. That is the legal standard in our judicial system.