by
Rachel Quigley
Daily Mail
During the vicious attack on George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin told
him ‘You’re going to die tonight motherf***er’ while hitting his
head against the pavement and reaching for his gun, it was alleged
in court today.
The interview the neighborhood watch volunteer gave a police officer
after he fatally shot the unarmed black teen was played to the court,
in which he claims the teen jumped out of the bushes and said: ‘You
got a problem homey?’ before punching him.
The jury heard Zimmerman’s version of events for the first time
today, in which he told police in a number of interviews that he
feared for his life after Trayvon jumped him and threatened to kill
him.
He allegedly told Zimmerman before trying to reach for his gun:
‘You’re going to die tonight motherf***er.’
The interview was played this morning with Sanford Police Officer
Doris Singleton on the witness stand, who meticulously went through
what happened with the neighborhood watch volunteer later that night.
In a calm and collected voice, Zimmerman explains the sequence
of events, from the moment he saw a ‘suspicious person’ that he
didn’t recognize to the moment he shot Trayvon.
In that first police interview, he said he saw Trayvon walking
through his neighborhood on a dark, rainy night while Zimmerman
was driving to the grocery store.
He told Officer Singleton that he didn’t recognize Martin
and that there had been recent break-ins at his townhome complex.
He said the guy seemed suspicious because he was, ‘taking his time,
and looking at all the houses’.
‘These guys always get away,’ Zimmerman told Singleton, a statement
similar to one that prosecutors have used previously to try to show
the 29-year-old was increasingly frustrated with the burglaries
and his encounter with Martin was a breaking point.
Zimmerman told the police officer that he lost track of the teen
and got out of his truck to look for a street name he could relay
to a police dispatcher.
When the dispatcher suggested Zimmerman didn’t need to follow
Martin, he started to head back to his vehicle, he claimed.
At that point, Martin jumped out of some bushes, punched him and
he fell to the ground.
Zimmerman then described how Trayvon got on top of him and kept
punching him as he yelled for help and when he felt him go for his
gun, he took it out and shot him.
Trayvon said, ‘Ow, ow’ and ‘You got me’ after he was shot, according
to Zimmerman, who said he then got on top of the teen to secure
him.
Members of the jury took notes furiously as Officer Singleton later
read out Zimmerman’s hand-written statement to the court.
‘As I headed back to my vehicle the suspect emerged from the darkness
and said, “You got a problem?” and I said “No”
and the suspect said, “You do now”.
‘Each time I attempted to sit up the suspect slammed my head. My
head felt like it was going to explode.
‘I tried to slide out from under the suspect and continued to yell
“help”. As I slid, the suspect covered my mouth and nose
and stopped my breathing.
‘At this point I felt the suspect reach for my now-exposed firearm
and say, “you are going to die tonight motherf***er”.’
In his statement, Zimmerman repeatedly referred to Martin as a
‘suspect’, a term prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda highlighted in
his questioning.
July
2, 2013
Copyright
© 2013 Daily
Mail
Republished with permission from:: Lew Rockwell