I was going to wait and post this, but then I thought some of you might not be aware of the press conference and may want to watch at 3:30. I will update this post during and after the press conference. If you haven't heard, yesterday the Sanford City Commission passed a motion of "no confidence" for Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee.
Police chief Bill Lee, of Sanford police, has insisted he carried out a "fair and thorough" investigation of the killing and that he cannot arrest George Zimmerman because he has told police he shot the teenager in self-defence and there was no evidence to contradict his account.
A thorough investigation? Not a chance. No evidence to contradict Zimmerman's account? Well, if you don't look for or gather evidence then there won't be evidence, now will there? Gross incompetence of the Sanford Police would be a generous description at this point. Let's look at what the Sanford Police didn't do.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have opened an investigation into the "facts and circumstances" surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager shot and killed last month by a neighborhood watch captain in an Orlando suburb.
There's been a lot of talk about Florida's Stand Your Ground (SYG) Law since the death of Trayvon Martin. So I decided to take a look at this law (which approximately 20 other states have adopted). Welcome to the age of vigilantism.
What exactly should Trayvon Martin have done differently? Not walked to the store? Not worn a hoodie?
There is something very, very wrong in Sanford, Florida. And I'm beginning to think what happened to Trayvon Martin is related to how the Sanford Police run their department. I'm beginning to think that George Zimmerman knew, if faced with what happened on February 26th, he'd get off... maybe even get a pat on the back, or a medal. And if he had actually shot and killed a "bad guy" he'd probably be heralded as a hero today. And that is a frightening thought. Far too often stories of a heroic citizen gunman are touted as the reason why guns are good, while stories of gun tragedies are dismissed as isolated incidents that shouldn't be considered in the equation.
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