Tuesday, July 16, 2013

An Interview with George Zimmerman on the Eve of His Trial

Zimmerman breaks five-year silence after learning police don't trust him
Hands up. Who was surprised at the verdict of the George Zimmerman trial a few years back?

Seems there are a lot more of you than I thought. I wish I was one of you, but about twenty years ago, when my father stopped a kindly old shopkeeper from forcing this little Black kid to open his jacket on the wrongheaded suspicion that he stole some comic books, I learned that would probably never be the case.

Five years ago, the rest of America had to re-learn that lesson, one which a majority of people, of every color and creed and orientation, seem to forget every time the news cycle reboots itself after 12-hours. Strange fruit been hanging on the vines of our trees since forever, only difference is the names change ever few years. Normally, the perpetrators are unassailable, representatives of the law, but George Zimmerman was different. He was a civilian. Or maybe Batman or The Punisher or The Fist of Goodness. Whoever he thought he was, he was not police. He was also, apparently, not guilty of the murder of a 17-year-old.

But that was half a decade ago, and today, George Zimmerman lives just outside of San Luis, Arizona with his wife, Shellie, and four-year-old son, Bobby. Today, he has twice the hair and half the weight. He is also preparing for trial after being charged with aggravated assault on Yuma County Police Officer, Martin Raymond, who Zimmerman claims profiled him as an illegal alien when he was pulled over for Reckless Driving and Operating a Motor Vehicle with a Malfunctioning Taillight.

Prior to being charged, Zimmerman was living under the protection of the United States Marshals as a protected citizen. His charges have forced him to shed his WITSEC identity and return to the public eye after years of hiding. I was privileged to sit down with Mr. Zimmerman and speak with him about his thoughts on his upcoming trial, one that is rife with unsettling parallels to his controversial trial five years ago for the murder of Trayvon Martin.

Even though he was flanked by his wife and lawyer, Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman was noticeably nervous when we first met at his home just miles north of the Mexican Border. He kept his eyes to the ground unless he was answering questions, and he constantly wiped away a small layer of sweat would from his brow when he offered anything more than a one word answer.

I tried to put him at ease by asking how he was doing. He didn't sweat.

I eased into asking him about his recollection of the night in question, or at least as much of his recollection that he was free to talk about. It was about 11:00pm on a Thursday. It had just stopped raining. He recalled going about 50 on highway when he saw the red and blues in his rear view. He barely remembers if he saw the cruiser before that moment, but he has a vague memory of seeing a black and blue Taurus on the side of the road a few miles prior to the stop.

His lawyer interrupted with a slight shake of the head. Zimmerman backtracked, stating that he wasn't sure if it was a Taurus or a Sonata.

As he moved on to his memory of the traffic stop, his lawyer handed him a handkerchief. Zimmerman began by describing how Officer Raymond approached his car with a flashlight in one hand and the other on the handle of a pistol. He hesitated a bit as he told of how the officer circled the rear of the car and shone his flashlight in each window, starting with the one closest to his son, who was sitting in the back. The officer then shone the light on the passenger's side. It was strong enough to make her recoil. Through these first moments, Zimmerman did his best to remain calm. He told his wife, "It'll be okay." He peeked at his son through the rearview and asked, "Are you okay, Buddy?" His son trembled as he nodded. Zimmerman didn't believe his boy, but he said he couldn't spend much time focusing on him and, instead, asked his wife to hand him his license and the car's registration.

Before he could pass the registration to the officer, Officer Raymond shone the flashlight in his eyes and asked, "You were all over the road back there. Have you been drinking tonight?"

Zimmerman said he said "No" right before he tried to ask the officer why he pulled him over. He never finished the question. Instead, the officer snatched his license and registration and reviewed it before barking a question at Zimmerman.

Zimmerman's lawyer tapped him on the shoulder and whispered into Zimmerman's ear for ten seconds. Zimmerman contests that the officer didn't bark as much as ask in a measured tone.

Officer Raymond, a tall wide man with a light beard and tiny eyes according to Zimmerman, then asked if Zimmerman knew why he was being pulled over. Zimmerman shook his head and responded with a wide eyes a dropped jaw and a "no".

That's when things, by Zimmerman's admission, got weird. Zimmerman's WITSEC-appointed name was even more at odds with his brown skin than his given name. While he was not at liberty to reveal his name to me, he assured me it was not an ethnically distinct name, at least not in his estimation. The officer, Zimmerman alleges, was unconvinced as to the authenticity of Zimmerman's documentation. His disbelief lead him to snatch open Zimmerman's door and order Zimmerman to exit the vehicle.

Zimmerman's wife interjected, saying she would have yelled at the officer at that very moment if not for her sons burgeoning tears. Tears ran down her rosy cheeks, and Zimmerman places his hand on hers. He said the officer gave him only a second to get out before he began shoving him towards the rear of the car. Once they reached the rear of the car, Officer Raymond told Zimmerman to sit on the ground with his hands placed behind his head. Zimmerman's wife couldn't hold back and yelled loud enough for the sound of her voice to carry through to the back of the car.

"Why are you doing this? Stop it! We have a child back here!" 

Zimmerman watched as Officer Raymond unsnapped his holster and moved back to the front of the car, pointing his finger at Zimmerman's wife, and said, "Be quiet!"

She didn't.

Raymond leaned into the car at that point, close enough for the spit from his mouth to rain down on her face, she says, and said, "If you don't shut up now, I will pull your ass out here with him!"

Zimmerman desperately wanted to move but remembered the last time he moved against the wishes of the authorities.

Six years ago in a gated enclave in Sanford, FL, Zimmerman was patrolling his neighborhood as part of the neighborhood watch that formed after a series of burglaries were reported in the area. The burglaries were allegedly committed by a group African-American youths. On the night of February 26, 2012, Zimmerman spotted an African-American youth wearing a hooded sweatshirt and walking through the neighborhood. Zimmerman followed the youth to see where he was headed then approached the youth. A confrontation ensued and at the end of the night, Trayvon Martin was dead and Zimmerman was in police custody. Weeks later, he was charged by Florida prosecutors with 2nd Degree Murder. More than a year later, he saw the trial for that murder end with his freedom.

His freedom brought him to this moment on the side of the road in San Luis, Arizona, right on the border of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico but more than hundreds of miles from his mother's native Peru, where he found it in his best interest to stay put until his family was threatened. He stayed seated and kept his hands behind his head, but still yelled to Officer Raymond, "come on, man, leave them alone! They didn't do nothing" 

He remembers hearing every crunch of the officers boot heels on the pavement as he stomped back towards him. And he couldn't forget how officer Raymond leaned into his face and exclaimed, "Where did you get these from?"

Zimmerman was so stunned he could barely get a word out. "They're legit" he said. Officer Raymond retorted they don't look legit. 

Zimmerman's wife co-signed, "He's legal. Please stop. He's an American citizen!"

Officer Raymond reached for his weapon, and Zimmerman forgot his lesson. He rose up and shoved the officer in order to defend his family. He struggled with the officer for what seemed like an hour but was actually about five minutes. They wrestled on the ground of the desert road, grappling at each other and throwing wild punches--one of which cut Officer Raymond's lip, the other breaking Zimmerman's nose in roughly the same place as it was broken on the night of Trayvon Martin's death--until Officer Raymond overtook Zimmerman and put the barrel of his pistol to Zimmerman's forehead. 

Zimmerman could barely keep his tears and urine inside as he looked into the barrel. He claims the officer cocked the hammer and held it for almost five seconds before he release the hammer and engaged the safety.  

Zimmerman and his wife simultaneously wipe away faint tears as he finishes that part of the story. It takes them about six minutes to compose themselves and continue. 

After Officer Raymond removed his pistol from Zimmerman's head, he cuffed Zimmerman and left him laying face down on highway until backup and the paddy wagon.

Zimmerman spent the rest of that night in a county lockup. He says his cell mates were mostly illegal aliens and undocumented workers who crossed the border from nearby Mexican state of. Few barely spoke English; many shared Zimmerman's brown skin and once stocky frame. His three-person cell was crammed with almost nine prisoners, and he was so frightened that he did not use the bathroom or eat until he was released on bond after a night court session where he was charged with Aggravated Assault, Reckless Driving, and Operating an Motor Vehicle with a Malfunctioning Taillight.

His wife and son remained in the police station all night, both so terrified of what may happen that they could not be moved by any of the officers or station staff.

Zimmerman has been out of custody for a month now, and his trial, a jury trial, will begin on June 28th. 

Thinking of the upcoming trial makes his body shake. He is concerned that the court will not value his word over that of Officer Raymond. He plans to testify this time. He wants his story to be heard because he feels he was denied that right both on the night of his arrest and during his murder trial five years ago.

He affirms that he is not a killer nor an illegal immigrant. He is an American citizen, with all the rights that entails, including access to a fair trial by a jury of his peers.

Jury selection for Zimmerman's upcoming trial ended weeks ago, with many sources claiming that the jury is primarily composed of males, three of which are reported to be white males over the age of thirty-five; two are possibly Hispanic, and one is an African-American male under the age of forty.

He professes that he hopes that the jury will see that he had no intention of harming Officer Raymond and that he only intended to protect himself and his family. He added, "The way my family and I have been treated is unlawful and undignified. We are not criminals, and we should never have been treated as such."

A tear rolled down his cheek for maybe the forth time that day as he stammered, "It's not right." 

I placed my hand on his shoulder and told him, "I know how you feel."

This article was originally posted under the title How Quickly They Forget - Trayvon Martin, The Guy Who Killed Him, and The Penalty of Being Brown in America

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