If you make the choice to pursue and confront a stranger on the street you run the risk of getting your ass kicked.
I feel like people who don't think Zimmerman started this fight are the people who think they can do or say whatever they want to people without getting their asses kicked. In this case its particularly ironic because these same people are okay with shooting an unarmed person. "I can shoot you but you can't punch me."
I think it was foolish for GZ to follow TM, but you seem to be saying that if someone is following you, it's OK to physically assault them to the point of beating them bloody. At this point, there is no proof that GZ ever touched, or even got in the face of TM. GZ was on the phone with the police, so it's obvious his only goal was to keep TM in sight until the police arrived.
Yes, I think following someone close enough for a fight to happen at night with no one else around is grounds for getting your ass kicked. There's a reason why none of us have ever done the same. If Martin did just spin around and just started pounding Zimmerman (that didn't happen), it is logical to assume that Martin felt unsafe because this large man was tailing him. If Zimmerman asked Martin what he was doing there, that is even more provocation for a fight. I work in an industry where I have to train 18-22 year olds how to deal with unfamiliar faces, if Zimmerman couldn't do that without invoking violence he should have stayed in his truck or better yet in his house.
We have no idea how the physical fight started, so please don't pretend to. However, Martin
probably initiated physical contact, and here's why: According to Dee Dee, the last thing she heard before the phone hit the ground was Zimmerman saying "what are you going here?" Why would Zimmerman say that if he just planned to jump Martin the second after he asked the question? Why would Zimmerman call the police, period, if he planned to jump him?
And is asking "what are you doing here?" really grounds to be attacked? How about just responding "mind your own business" or better yet, "I'm staying with my dad, who lives right over there."
And once the physical confrontation ensues, its laughable to hear the morons on this board pretend to know exactly how they would have reacted in that situation. "Oh, I would have just fired a
warning shot!"
"I would have just thrown my gun somewhere where he couldn't get it!"
"Oh, I would have just pointed the gun at him and hoped the guy beating me up didn't take it away from me!"
From a legal standpoint, I agree that Zimmerman seems likely to be acquitted, but I guess I'm one of the few who (
if the facts are as I understand them, and that's a big IF) doesn't think Zimmerman did anything wrong.