Thanks to a strategic leak by Sanford, Florida police, and a self-described friend (or coworker) Joe Oliver,
we now know what George Zimmerman told police about what happened in the minutes before he fatally
shot Trayvon Martin.
The account, printed in the Orlando Sentinel and repeated by Oliver in TV and print interviews, including
with theGrio, is that Zimmerman had given up following Trayvon after losing sight of him, and was
returning to his SUV when the 17-year-old appeared from nowhere and jumped him from behind, then
punched him in the face, breaking his nose and dropping him to the ground, and banged his head repeatedly
on the pavement. Zimmerman's latest account, via the leaks, is that he and Trayvon struggled for his 9mm
semiautomatic handgun, and he the shot the teen once in the chest, killing him.
Now, it has emerged that at least one Sanford police officer may not have believed Zimmerman's story: the
lead homicide investigator Chris Serino, who was reportedly overruled on making an arrest by the state
attorney, Norman Wolfinger, or his office.
Indeed, there are several potential problems with Zimmerman's account.
1. Nowhere to hide
The path from 1111 Retreat View Circle, the clubhouse inside the gated Retreat at Twin Lakes townhome
complex, where Zimmerman told police he first spotted a suspicious person, to the backyard walkway
where Trayvon died, has no hiding places. Trayvon would have walked along the curved Twin Trees road
that leads off Retreat View Circle, out in the open between the front-facing, connected townhouses on both
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sides of the street. He would have then veered onto a sidewalk that runs behind the houses to a straight lane
leading to the home of his father's girlfriend. Because the homes and back yards are connected, there are no
alleys or places to hide, let alone to lay in wait. The killing happened just two or three houses in, about 120
yards from Trayvon's intended destination. It would seem nearly impossible for Zimmerman to have lost
sight of the teen based on the physical layout.
2. What's in the 1-minute gap?
Sanford police have admitted that there is a 1-minute gap in the 911 call tape between Zimmerman's last
communications with dispatchers and the time he is believed to have come in contact with Martin. Both
Zimmerman's supporters and Trayvon's then-girlfriend claim the two exchanged words before the shooting.
If that audio is not lost, will the audio be of Zimmerman asking "what are you doing here," as the girlfriend
claims, or Trayvon asking, "do you have a problem? You do now," as Oliver relates on Zimmerman's
behalf.
3. What made Trayvon run?
Zimmerman told dispatchers the person he spotted was coming toward him, and then, moments later, he
said the person was running. I talked to a veteran Florida police officer not connected to this case, who
raised the question: Why? Did Trayvon see the gun and decide to flee? Or did he simply see Zimmerman
get out of his car and run in fear? And once he decided to run, why wouldn't a fleeing Trayvon simply keep
running, given that he had a straight, unobstructed path to home and safety? Is it logical to assume he
stopped running in order to double back and pursue the person he had been running from?