I think we have come as close to agreeing as we ever will on some points; so, this is my final post on the matter unless something so egregious is said that it warrants a response.
Martin was invited, yes. He also was a black teen in a gated community that was not known, and matched the description of the recent burglars.
I am skeptical about the burglaries. Who called them in? And how do we know that white people living in the neighborhood were not the burglars and called the cops after the fact to deflect suspicion from themselves. Residents would know when their neighbors are not home
and when the opportunity was ripe to burgle. BTW FBI statistics show burglary as predominately a white crime.
THe protocols of Neighborhood watch are not laws. They are there to protect volunteers, such as Zimmerman, from provoking violent people, such as Martin.
Thanks for agreeing with me with a few exceptions. The NW protocols are there to protect volunteers as well as innocent people who might have a legitimate purpose to be there, like TM. As explained in the NW
protocols I posted earlier, the avoidance of lawsuits for harassment and/ or unlawful arrest seems to be the prime concern. Provoking and scaring children like TM may also be a major concern. Following and then chasing after them after you have scared them; then finally cornering them in a hiding place is the recipe for disaster. Violence becomes necessary to defend oneself from the unknown. In the end both combatants were doing just that...Martin lost the battle because he was too light in the ass and was unarmed
Zimmerman SHOULD have not followed at all.
Agreed! Had he been a genuine NW member, there would have been a coordinated telephonic effort by the entire community to keep track of TM as he walked towards his residence. Someone might have even verified that he was visiting a neighbor.
But of course, Zimmerman being reckless and violating Watch protocols does not give Martin the right to pounce on him and beat him.
That depends! Given the weather, the darkness and the unknown reason TM seemed to panic and run to avoid GZ, that "pouncing" and the beat down probably was justified. Martin's perception of GZ is the key here. My evidence? When TM said over the phone to his girl that he was scared is one point. The other is that he ran when he had no apparent reason to. Those two points are the bedrock of my case.
Nor does is take away Zimmerman's right of self defense.
I don't think I have implied NW protocol did take away GZ's rights.
He wasn't an official member anyway. Zimmeman was just plain lucky that TM wasn't armed and that as an adult, he was strong enough to weather the surprise of TM's defense strategy and grab his gun.
TM failed to incapacitate the man who who thought was stalking him. NO, by Florida law, GZ technically was not stalking... but how can any reasonable person not see that TM thought he was being stalked and pursued by a strange large man on a dark rainly night. Perhaps if TM had pulled his pants up, he might have been able to run all the way home before having to hide and then having GZ catch up to him.