Hi...My name is George Zimmerman...Im following a suspicious character in my neighborhood in the dark and rain...I have holstered my pistol just in case there is a problem...no, Im not a cop...Im a neighborhood watch captain. What should I do?
911: Get your stupid ass back in your truck and wait for the police...right now!! Do not pass go...do not collect $200.
Hi 25 caliber. Here is a transcript of the key portion of the police call with Zimmerman:
Up until Zimmerman states "Shit, he is running" there is no dispute that Zimmerman was in his vehicle.. When Zimmerman says "The back entrance ... fucking [unintelligible]" there is also no dispute that Zimmerman is in the process of leaving his vehicle for the first time in the phone call.
If I was representing Zimmerman, the argument that I would make is that when the dispatcher replied to Zimmermans exclamation
"Shit, he is running" with
"He's running? Which way is he running?" Zimmerman took that as a directive to follow Martin and report where Martin was headed.
Latter, when the dispatcher discerns that Zimmerman is running because of the sounds of heavy breathing and the wind (not to mention the sounds of wet grass) he asks "Are you following him?'. Zimmerman responds "Yeah", the dispatcher says "OK we don't need you to do that". At that point you can tell Zimmerman is slowing down and comes to a stop a few seconds thereafter.
Thus the defense will argue, far from ignoring the dispatcher, Zimmerman believed he was following the express direction of the dispatcher