No surprise. His department did a disastrously poor job of investigating that case. It showed a complete lack of training and discipline.
The DA will probably be next.
Police Chief In Trayvon Martin Case FIRED. Agree or Not?
Foxhound BN0
2012/06/21 10:54:56
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Sanford, Fla., has fired Bill Lee, the police chief who initially oversaw the controversial investigation into a neighborhood watch captain's fatal shooting of a 17-year-old, Trayvon Martin. The initial lack of an arrest drove widespread protests and propelled the case into national headlines.
"After much thoughtful discussion and deep consideration for the issues facing the city of Sanford, I have determined the police chief needs to have the trust and respect of the elected officials and the confidence of the entire community," Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte was quoted saying in the city's statement. "We need to move forward with a police chief that all the citizens of Sanford can support. I have come to this decision in light of the escalating divisiveness that has taken hold of the city." See full story at
http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martin-case-police-chief-bill-l...
Do you agree with the City of Sanford's decision to fire the Chief?
"After much thoughtful discussion and deep consideration for the issues facing the city of Sanford, I have determined the police chief needs to have the trust and respect of the elected officials and the confidence of the entire community," Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte was quoted saying in the city's statement. "We need to move forward with a police chief that all the citizens of Sanford can support. I have come to this decision in light of the escalating divisiveness that has taken hold of the city." See full story at
http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martin-case-police-chief-bill-l...
Do you agree with the City of Sanford's decision to fire the Chief?
Top Opinion
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Jeremiah 2012/06/21 17:17:59
The one above is also not Trayvon. Journalist have identified him from Facebook as a random kid someone found for it to fit those against Trayvon to look bad.
Don't blame Sodahead. You should know better. The "older man" with all the tats was 32!!! You could tell by just looking at him that wasn't a 17 year old since you've raised so many kids!
FYI- a bigot/racists rant as you've pointed out to several people, is NOT people taking the side of a 17 year old black murdered boy. We are outraged with HUMAN RIGHTS.
You, my dear, are on the side of the racists man who murdered a boy with no reason. We will wait and see what the courts say. Doesn't look good for a man who has lied consistently with those who didn't do their forensics job getting fired left and right.
I'm pointing out facts to your assumptions. Holier than thou??? You just realized you were wrong and you're slinging back. Like you've been slinging since you've been on this blog. We are DEFENDING a boy.
Think about the family man, Game (with a wife and brand new baby) you posted as Trayvon, comparing him to a vicious gang member. That's slander. I'm sure he nor his family would appreciate that at all. Yeah, a real Christian thing to do. Did you remove the link that showed him at least?
And you should do some research on Zimmerman if you're so open minded and not a racist. Here are some facts dug up by one of the few real investigative news sources left - Reuters:
"The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him."
"Zimmerman's maternal grandmother, Cristina, who had lived with the Zimmermans since 1978, worked as a babysitter for years during Zimmerman's childhood. For several years she cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals at the Zimmerman house and went back and forth to school each day with the Zimmerman children.
""It was part of their upbringing to know that there are people in need, people more in need than themselves," said Post, a Peruvian immigrant who lived with the Zimmermans for a time.
Post recalls evening prayers before dinner in the ethnically diverse Zimmerman household, which included siblings Robert Jr., Grace, and Dawn. "It wasn't only white or only Hispanic or only black - it was mixed," she s...
And you should do some research on Zimmerman if you're so open minded and not a racist. Here are some facts dug up by one of the few real investigative news sources left - Reuters:
"The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him."
"Zimmerman's maternal grandmother, Cristina, who had lived with the Zimmermans since 1978, worked as a babysitter for years during Zimmerman's childhood. For several years she cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals at the Zimmerman house and went back and forth to school each day with the Zimmerman children.
""It was part of their upbringing to know that there are people in need, people more in need than themselves," said Post, a Peruvian immigrant who lived with the Zimmermans for a time.
Post recalls evening prayers before dinner in the ethnically diverse Zimmerman household, which included siblings Robert Jr., Grace, and Dawn. "It wasn't only white or only Hispanic or only black - it was mixed," she said."
""They were part of the household for years, until they were old enough to be on their own," Post said.
Zimmerman served as an altar boy at All Saints from age 7 to 17, church members said."
"Twin Lakes residents said dozens of reports of attempted break-ins and would-be burglars casing homes had created an atmosphere of growing fear in the (Twin Lake) neighborhood.
In several of the incidents, witnesses identified the suspects to police as young black men."
(Zimmerman then called the Twin Lake Association and they advised he and other community members start up a neighborhood watch program...which Zimmerman did.)
"On February 2, 2012, Zimmerman placed a call to Sanford police after spotting a young black man he recognized peering into the windows of a neighbor's empty home, according to several friends and neighbors.
"I don't know what he's doing. I don't want to approach him, personally," Zimmerman said in the call, which was recorded. The dispatcher advised him that a patrol car was on the way. By the time police arrived, according to the dispatch report, the suspect had fled."
"On February 6, the home of another Twin Lakes resident, Tatiana Demeacis, was burglarized Police found Demeacis's laptop in the backpack of 18-year-old Emmanuel Burgess, police reports show, and charged him with dealing in stolen property. Burgess was the same man Zimmerman had spotted on February 2.
Burgess had committed a series of burglaries on the other side of town in 2008 and 2009, pleaded guilty to several, and spent all of 2010 incarcerated in a juvenile facility, his attorney said. He is now in jail on parole violations."
"We've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy," Zimmerman said, as Treyvon Martin returned home from the store.
"The last time Zimmerman had called police, to report Burgess, he followed protocol and waited for police to arrive. They were too late, and Burgess got away."
"Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.
"Let's talk about the elephant in the room. I'm black, OK?" (a Twin Lake resident) woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race. She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. "There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood," she said. "That's why George was suspicious of Treyvon Martin.""
http://www.reuters.com/articl...
None of this justifies a killing but it certainly changes the narrative and allows people to see the human equation of Zimmerman's mind set that evening. He did not shoot Treyvon as a vigilante out for black blood, but as a defender of his neighborhood who took things too far.
That does not make him a cold-blooded murderer - it makes him a faulty human being who deserves a fair trial.
But you don’t know Albert Vaughn’s name.
You don’t know the name of those other 22 kids from Julian High School who died in 2008.
You don’t know any of the other 530 young people, most of them minorities, who were killed between 2008 and January of 2012 in Chicago alone.
All of them were tragedies. All of those victims were too young to die.
Why didn’t you hear about their senseless deaths? Why didn’t the media make them household names? Why didn’t civil-rights leaders march, and march and march again, calling for justice?
Because they were not killed by a white guy.
No, I need to be more accurate. They were not killed by a “white Hispanic,” a new term of art the New York Times and others in the media are using to describe George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayvon Martin.
Why? Because the real racism that exists in the media is this: a young black male’s life is not worth reporting when it is taken by another black male. It is worth reporting only when it is taken by a white guy" (National Review OnLine)
Let the courts try Zimmerman and let the evidence be what convicts him - not trumped up public opinion.
"The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him."
"Zimmerman's maternal grandmother, Cristina, who had lived with the Zimmerman's since 1978, worked as a babysitter for years during Zimmerman's childhood. For several years she cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals at the Zimmerman house and went back and forth to school each day with the Zimmerman children.
""It was part of their upbringing to know that there are people in need, people more in need than themselves," said Post, a Peruvian immigrant who lived with the Zimmerman's for a time.
Post recalls evening prayers before dinner in the ethnically diverse Zimmerman household, which included siblings Robert Jr., Grace, and Dawn. "It wasn't only white or only Hispanic or only black - it was mixed," she said."
""They were part of the household for years, until they were old enough to be on their own," Post said.
Zimmerman served as an altar boy at All Saints from age 7 to ...
"The 28-year-old insurance-fraud investigator comes from a deeply Catholic background and was taught in his early years to do right by those less fortunate. He was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather - the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him."
"Zimmerman's maternal grandmother, Cristina, who had lived with the Zimmerman's since 1978, worked as a babysitter for years during Zimmerman's childhood. For several years she cared for two African-American girls who ate their meals at the Zimmerman house and went back and forth to school each day with the Zimmerman children.
""It was part of their upbringing to know that there are people in need, people more in need than themselves," said Post, a Peruvian immigrant who lived with the Zimmerman's for a time.
Post recalls evening prayers before dinner in the ethnically diverse Zimmerman household, which included siblings Robert Jr., Grace, and Dawn. "It wasn't only white or only Hispanic or only black - it was mixed," she said."
""They were part of the household for years, until they were old enough to be on their own," Post said.
Zimmerman served as an altar boy at All Saints from age 7 to 17, church members said."
"Twin Lakes residents said dozens of reports of attempted break-ins and would-be burglars casing homes had created an atmosphere of growing fear in the (Twin Lake) neighborhood.
In several of the incidents, witnesses identified the suspects to police as young black men."
(Zimmerman then called the Twin Lake Association and they advised he and other community members start up a neighborhood watch program...which Zimmerman did.)
"On February 2, 2012, Zimmerman placed a call to Sanford police after spotting a young black man he recognized peering into the windows of a neighbor's empty home, according to several friends and neighbors.
"I don't know what he's doing. I don't want to approach him, personally," Zimmerman said in the call, which was recorded. The dispatcher advised him that a patrol car was on the way. By the time police arrived, according to the dispatch report, the suspect had fled."
"On February 6, the home of another Twin Lakes resident, Tatiana Demeacis, was burglarized Police found Demeacis's laptop in the backpack of 18-year-old Emmanuel Burgess, police reports show, and charged him with dealing in stolen property. Burgess was the same man Zimmerman had spotted on February 2.
Burgess had committed a series of burglaries on the other side of town in 2008 and 2009, pleaded guilty to several, and spent all of 2010 incarcerated in a juvenile facility, his attorney said. He is now in jail on parole violations."
"We've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy," Zimmerman said, as Treyvon Martin returned home from the store.
"The last time Zimmerman had called police, to report Burgess, he followed protocol and waited for police to arrive. They were too late, and Burgess got away."
"Though civil rights demonstrators have argued Zimmerman should not have prejudged Martin, one black neighbor of the Zimmermans said recent history should be taken into account.
"Let's talk about the elephant in the room. I'm black, OK?" (a Twin Lake resident) woman said, declining to be identified because she anticipated backlash due to her race. She leaned in to look a reporter directly in the eyes. "There were black boys robbing houses in this neighborhood," she said. "That's why George was suspicious of Treyvon Martin.""
http://www.reuters.com/articl...
Zimmerman should never have got out of his car to pursue Treyvon on foot - but he was concerned for his neighbors whom he obviously cared deeply for - and he wasn't going to let another possible burglary take place. What happened while on foot is still to be clarified, but to make this into a vigilante, racist attack is ridiculous.
Zimmerman's records show that he does have an aggressive personality.
George Zimmerman has been accused of domestic violence, tussling with a police officer and for over-speeding.
In 2005, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with "resisting officer with violence" and "battery of law enforcement officer." Both these felonies are considered third-degree. Due to his desperate attempts, the charges were reduced to "resisting officer without violence" and then the only remaining charge was also completely waived off when he entered an alcohol education program.
In the same year (2005), Zimmerman's ex-fiance, Veronica Zuazo, filed a civil motion for a restraining order, alleging domestic violence. In retaliation, Zimmerman filed for a retraining order against Zuazo and both these claims were resolved with both restraining orders granted.
The next year, in 2006, Zimmerman was charged with speeding
Zimmerman is not a racist vigilante and Treyvon was not a pure as the driven snow little boy. That is all I've been trying to say from the beginning - let civility and the courts rule and stop making this into a "get Zimmerman" issue.
The firing of the police chief was politically motivated because of the circus that has insued from the black community. Right from the city managers mouth:
“I have come to this decision in light of the escalating divisiveness that has taken hold of the city,” the manager said in the statement. The decision was made after a meeting earlier in the day.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/20...
My point from my first post was that the picture used in this poll misrepresents the 17 year old Treyvon and that it has been used repeatedly and on purpose to create the overblown empathy you are exhibiting, to stir up the community and to stir up the marches and the protests that have insued....none of which was accidental. You and your empathy are being used to create a firestorm about racial vigilantism where it's very possible none exists.
What I'd like to know, is when all the evidence is presented and if it becomes clear that Zimmerman was guilty of overprotectiveness and faulty human nature and that alone - will you be among those who apologize for your racist attitude toward this hispanic man?
But you don’t know Albert Vaughn’s name.
You don’t know the name of those other 22 kids from Julian High School who died in 2008.
You don’t know any of the other 530 young people, most of them minorities, who were killed between 2008 and January of 2012 in Chicago alone.
All of them were tragedies. All of those victims were too young to die.
Why didn’t you hear about their senseless deaths? Why didn’t the media make them household names? Why didn’t civil-rights leaders march, and march and march again, calling for justice?
Because they were not killed by a white guy.
No, I need to be more accurate. They were not killed by a “white Hispanic,” a new term of art the New York Times and others in the media are using to describe George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayvon Martin.
Why? Because the real racism that exists in the media is this: a young black male’s life is not worth reporting when it is taken by another black male. It is worth reporting only when it is taken by a white guy." (National Review Online)
Who is manipulating whom?
I am simply throwing it back out at those who insist that a man who is part black himself with a black grandfather, who grew up with three little black girls in his home who considered the Zimmerman home their own, who mentored black kids and who started a business with a black friend to be racially motivated in his pursuit of a hooded black young man in a neighborhood that had 8 reported burglaries and a rash of attempted burglaries and break-ins with witnesses who said the perps were young black men.
My point is that the whole thing has been cooked and manipulated to make Zimmerman into something he obviously isn't. Go here http://www.reuters.com/articl... and read a true investigative effort on the part of Reuters that puts a completely different light on that horribly tragic evening.
This rapper named Game is 32. Really...are ya blind?
Here he is with his father.
Yes, here's Treyvon too. I am not trying to paint Treyvon as some kind of devil - I am pointing out the fact that NOWHERE in the press do you see ANY pictures of Treyvon at 17, they are all using the picture of him at 12 --- don't you even question WHYYYYYY~?~?