What I find strange is that many of these people's stories have "evolved". George Zimmerman's hasn't.
Continuing with my opinions on the evolution of George Zimmerman's story.
GZ's reasons for thinking TM was suspicious, and calling him in as such, were discussed at least five times in his
SPD interviews. I'm not sure if any other single subject was discussed so often. They also got a brief mention in the
2/26 written statement (p.1).
In an earlier
post, I noted that on the second such occasion, GZ added something new, not mentioned previously to Singleton, nor to the dispatcher on the
NEN call. GZ said that TM, when GZ first saw him, was in front of a particular residence, one that had been of concern in an earlier non-emergency call. Prior to this, GZ had never mentioned TM being in front of any particular residence.
SPD 2/26-1, 10:25-52
Zimmerman: And this time, I was leaving to go to the grocery store. And like I said, I saw him walking in the neighborhood, the same, in front of the same house that I had called the police before, to come to because this guy leaves his doors unlocked and stuff. And he was walking leisurely and looking at the houses, and, so I just pulled my car to the side. And I called the non-emergency line.
The next time GZ mentioned his reasons for a suspicious person call was in the
2/26 written statement (p.1).
Tonight, I was on my way to the grocery store when I saw a male approximately 5'11" to 6'2" casually walking in the rain looking into homes. I pulled my vehicle over and called SPD non-emergency phone number.
The particular house was again omitted. Looking 'into', as opposed to 'at', the houses/homes is new. It's a small verbal change, but legally huge.
Fla. Stat. § 810.14(1) A person commits the offense of voyeurism when he or she, with lewd, lascivious, or indecent intent, secretly observes another person when the other person is located in a dwelling, structure, or conveyance and such location provides a reasonable expectation of privacy.
(2) A person who violates this section commits a misdemeanor of the first degree for the first violation . . .
If GZ saw TM looking into a dwelling around 7:00 PM, I think he may have witnessed an actual or attempted misdemeanor. None of the investigators showed any interest in clarifying this.
GZ was released after midnight on 2/27. The
reenactment was on the afternoon of the same day.
0:00-0:06
Smith: . . . pick him up at?
Zimmerman: Right here. Right in front of this house.
Smith: OK. Right in front of 1460?
Zimmerman: Yes, sir.
For the first time GZ identified Frank Taaffe's unit, 1460 Retreat View Cir., as the house TM was front of when GZ first saw him. GZ did make a call concerning this house, earlier in the same month, on 2/2/12. The associated Event Report is on p. 45 of the
logs. GZ made two calls on 2/2/12. On the first he gave the address incorrectly as 1960 Retreat View Cir. He called again to correct the address to 1460 RVC.
0:10-15
Zimmerman: He was walking like in the grassy area, like, up towards, kinda between these two poles.
In the reenactment, GZ mentioned TM walking in the grass without really saying it was another reason for suspicion. He would suggest that more explicitly in his last SPD interview (
SPD, 2/19-1, 8:45). I believe these are the only two occasions that GZ mentioned TM walking on the grass at the time of first sighting. Of course that would be implicit when GZ said, in the
Hannity interview, that TM was 'in between houses, cutting in between houses' (4:05).
0:16-1:21
Like I said, it was rainy. And he wasn't, he was just leisurely looking at the house. And, I, like I said, my wife is, I'd left for the grocery store. And I just felt something was off about him.
Smith: Right.
Zimmerman: So I said, and there's been a history of break-ins in that, and I called previously about this house.
Smith: Right.
Zimmerman: When the police arrived at this house, when I called the first time, the windows were open, and the door was unlocked. And the police came and secured it. So I said, "You know what, it's better to just call." And, I kept driving. I passed him and he was, he kept staring at me, and staring ar-, looking around, to see who else was, I don't know why he was looking, but -
Smith: Did he walk off from there, or did he stop there last night?
Zimmerman: He stopped, and he's, he, he like, looked around. And that's why is, that's what threw me off was, it's raining. I didn't understand why somebody would be, just stopping in the, especially, you know, it wasn't like he was trying to run, to get out of the rain. And I'd never seen him before.
In the reenactment, GZ repeated most of the earlier reasons for suspicion. TM, a stranger to the neighborhood, was walking slowly in the rain, in front of a house that GZ had made an earlier call about. TM looked at the house, stopped in front of the house, and looked around.
Additions in the reenactment are TM walking in the grass, and a neighboring house having 'a history of break-ins'.
