walking while black - Trayvon Martin

[SIXFOOTERsez]

I wonder what would have happened in the same circumstances if Zimmerman hadn't been armed. If the bystander who saw TM on top of GZ had intervened, or if the cops had arrived and saw TM on GZ, they would have found TM with no injuries (at least according to the mortician) and GZ with a cut and bloodied head. What charges would have been filed in that case?

Some might say that GZ wouldn't have followed TM if he hadn't been armed. Possibly. Or he might have. People get fed up with their homes being burglarized. There have been a lot of burglaries in my daughter's neighborhood. One of her neighbor's, a 40-something woman saw two guys trying to kick in another neighbor's door. She yelled and them and chased them down the road where they got into a car with a driver waiting for them. (She got a partial license plate.) Probably not the wisest thing for this woman to do - she's glad she didn't catch up to them (!) - but people are just fed up with this stuff. When the story first came out, I didn't understand GZ not following the 911 dispatcher's direction to stop following the guy. But after reading about all the burglaries in the neighborhood, I understand why he'd want to keep a potential suspect in sight.

Not only was Zimmerman disregarding the 911 Dispatcher's directions, he disregarded the Neighborhood Watch instructions he received from the police.

From Wikipedia:

Sanford Police volunteer program coordinator Wendy Dorival, told the Miami Herald that she met Zimmerman in September, 2011 at a community neighborhood watch presentation. Dorival stated that she gave a warning to participants at the presentation: “I said, ‘If it’s someone you don’t recognize, call us. We’ll figure it out,’ ” Dorival said. “‘Observe from a safe location."

Actually, Kip, my initial reaction to your question took off in an entirely different direction from what you posted.

My thought was, if Zimmerman had been unarmed?

They would both still be alive.

Please tell me in your experience where would have been a safe location to observe from?

The first place that comes to mind would be in the Vehicle he got out of, the one he was in when the 911 operator told him not to chace the 200 lb spook