If Trayvon Martin Felt So Threatened....

[JP171]

Strat, at no time did thug martin stand his ground, so therefore your statement of the minimum was him SYG is patently incorrect. thug martin had no reason to attempt to stand his ground as he was at no time attacked nor even actually confronted he was merely watched. he became the aggressor almost immediately upon the first contact or as the first contact. any possibility of him standing his ground was precluded by his initial actions. in the SYG type laws I have looked at the all have one similarity and that is the protections afforded by the law is negated by the actor beginning a contact that is violent without being in danger them self. by this I mean that should GZ have pushed thug martin then he would have had a case for SYG but as he blindsided or sucker punched a person that was no threat he is guilty of assault and gross stupidity and SYG does not apply

[jmra]

I don't think he called the police because I don't think he felt "threatened." I think he felt "disrespected" and decided to teach the little Hispanic following him a lesson about respecting homeboys (or whatever the correct term is for foolish young men). The police would have interfered with that objective. Too bad his parents did not teach him that there is always someone bigger badder and stronger than you/ a person that is carrying an equalizer.

There's a very simple reason TM didn't call 911. There's also a reason that TM didn't just go home.
The reason is very clear. TM wasn't just "walking home" when he was spotted by GZ. He was doing something that he did not want someone like GZ or a 911 operator to know about.
The path that TM was taking was a known shortcut. If TM were just walking along this path then he wouldn't have raised any suspicion.

Lets look at the 911 call:
"It's raining and he's walking around, looking about...looking at all the houses."
Don't know about you, but if I'm walking home from a store wearing a hoodie in the rain, my head is probably angled down at the path (to keep my face dry) and I'm making a beeline for the homestead. GZs description of TMs actions do not match those of someone "just headed home from the store in the rain". Remember, nothing has happened at this point so there is no reason for GZ to be anything other than completely candid.
"Now he's just staring at me...now he's coming towards me."
At this point GZ has done nothing but stand at his truck and call 911. Why, if TM was simply going home, would he stop and stare at a man standing by his truck on his phone? Why would he approach that man?
"he's running." And why, if he was approaching him, would he all of a sudden start running?
So what are the answers to these questions? Only TM knows for sure, but I'm willing to speculate - call it processing reasonable doubt.

1. TM drew suspicion because he wasn't just walking home. Like most drug users without rich parents, TM needed to finance his drug habit. TMs "walking around, looking about...looking at all the houses" was (I believe) TM casing houses. Remember, TM had just been kicked out of school for theft. His bounty that one would assume would be used for his next drug purchase was confiscated. TM would soon need additional funds.

2. "Now he's just staring at me...now he's coming towards me."
Why would TM be concerned at all about a guy stopped on the side of the road on a cell phone? Why would he approach this person? Because TM was concerned that he had been observed casing the houses and needed to know what GZ had seen.

3. "he's running."
Why would he start running after he had been walking straight toward GZ? I believe the answer to this is simple. I believe TM realized that GZ was reporting his activities.

Why did TM double back and attack GZ? Again, I can only speculate, but I assume a combination of the effects of the drugs, an attempt at intimidating GZ, frustration that GZ may have spoiled a possible score by TZ on one of the houses,... Your guess is as good as mine, but I believe these are the reasons TM didn't call 911 or simply go home.

[O6nop]

Based on some of the evidence, TM may have thought that GZ was a gay rapist. TM came back to take care of that. I never heard any statements to the idea that TM was taking the law into his own hands, a wannabe 'enforcer', as so many have accused GZ of doing.

[ScooterSissy]

No that I actually understand the question :) - to be fair, it's something of a cultural thing. Many of those in Trayvon's group are taught not to trust the police. If he did feel threatened (and make no mistake about it, I don't think he felt threatened, I think he felt "disrespected") it's not part of his culture to call the police.

That doesn't excuse his actions though. You don't get to break the rules, then have folks yell and scream that the rules didn't work for you. They would have, had they been used. If Martin felt threatened, had he called the police, the police would have responded that the situation has already been reported, and the police were on the way. Assuming neither party was really up to no good, the police would have spoken to both of them, and both would have gone on about their business.

It didn't happen. One of the parties involved (Martin) decided to break the law. It didn't work out well for him.

[Cjwglock19]

Or maybe get off the phone with the girl, call your dad, and say "I'm right down the street and some man if following me!" He was on the street he lived. As a dad, I would have headed in my sons direction, believe his dad would have too!

He wasn't scared! This was not his first rodeo!!

[ScooterSissy]

Or maybe get off the phone with the girl, call your dad, and say "I'm right down the street and some man if following me!" He was on the street he lived. As a dad, I would have headed in my sons direction, believe his dad would have too!

He wasn't scared! This was not his first rodeo!!

Unfortunately, his dad wasn't home, and that's one of the big "unspoken" issues here.

Trayvon was sent to his father because he was in trouble, and his mother couldn't handle him.
His father had Trayvon come stay with him and his fiance at his fiance's home (I don't know the "why", but my response would have been to bring him to my home, not my girlfriend's).
Further, the night all this happened, Dad and the fiance weren't at home; Trayvon was left to his own devices. Dad didn't know he hadn't come home until the next morning.

[sjfcontrol]

Or maybe get off the phone with the girl, call your dad, and say "I'm right down the street and some man if following me!" He was on the street he lived. As a dad, I would have headed in my sons direction, believe his dad would have too!

He wasn't scared! This was not his first rodeo!!

Unfortunately, his dad wasn't home, and that's one of the big "unspoken" issues here.

Trayvon was sent to his father because he was in trouble, and his mother couldn't handle him.
His father had Trayvon come stay with him and his fiance at his fiance's home (I don't know the "why", but my response would have been to bring him to my home, not my girlfriend's).
Further, the night all this happened, Dad and the fiance weren't at home; Trayvon was left to his own devices. Dad didn't know he hadn't come home until the next morning.

His dad was out on a (ahem) date with his GF -- leaving the "children" home-alone.

[Carry-a-Kimber]