gwb-trading had it right way back.
Here's the NYPD procedure for investigating a homicide, which, by the way, regardless of what the victim looked like, is still the most serious crime there is:
1 - Cordon off the crime scene.
2 - Take all the evidence you can, obviously including the gun or other weapon used.
3 - Arrest the perpetrator (this would, after all, be Zimmerman) being of course careful to read him his rights. Note that this DOES NOT mean you are assuming he didn't do it in self-defense, as the perpetrator can obviously use this in a court of law as a defense. Attempt to interview him (lawyers might intervene here).
4 - Canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and interview them as intensively as you can as soon as you can.
5 - Id the victim, notify his/her next of kin.
Now, let's see what parts of this were followed:
1 - Nope.
2 - Nope. Zimmerman's gun was returned to him. If that doesn't make your head spin, nothing will.
3 - Arrest him? Yep. Someone's dead. You just don't let the guy who killed him go until you at least establish the facts of the case, even if you do have a law like the one Florida does.
4 - Nope.
5 - Nope, until finally forced to.
The problem here is that as of now all we have are selectively leaked photos of the victim by both the family and the "defenders" of Zimmerman, selectively picked facts, and witnesses who were never interviewed the way they were supposed to be because the police didn't do the job they're paid to do.
Add on to that the simple outrage of letting the body of the victim lie there for three days as a John Doe when next of kin were calling up every day looking for him, and he had a cell phone on him with his emergency contacts listed, and you have a complete outrage.
Was Zimmerman a racist? Not relevant.
Was Trayvon a short-tempered bully? Not relevant.
What is relevant is that a person was killed and the police did nothing to investigate what happened, and took the word of the killer.
Was the killer telling the truth? It's possible he was (except for the bit about returning to his truck, which looks far fetched right now).
You know what? No one will ever know, because no proper investigation was done.
If nothing else, that police dept needs to be overhauled from top to bottom. Incompetence would be a kind description of their skills.
Here's the NYPD procedure for investigating a homicide, which, by the way, regardless of what the victim looked like, is still the most serious crime there is:
1 - Cordon off the crime scene.
2 - Take all the evidence you can, obviously including the gun or other weapon used.
3 - Arrest the perpetrator (this would, after all, be Zimmerman) being of course careful to read him his rights. Note that this DOES NOT mean you are assuming he didn't do it in self-defense, as the perpetrator can obviously use this in a court of law as a defense. Attempt to interview him (lawyers might intervene here).
4 - Canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and interview them as intensively as you can as soon as you can.
5 - Id the victim, notify his/her next of kin.
Now, let's see what parts of this were followed:
1 - Nope.
2 - Nope. Zimmerman's gun was returned to him. If that doesn't make your head spin, nothing will.
3 - Arrest him? Yep. Someone's dead. You just don't let the guy who killed him go until you at least establish the facts of the case, even if you do have a law like the one Florida does.
4 - Nope.
5 - Nope, until finally forced to.
The problem here is that as of now all we have are selectively leaked photos of the victim by both the family and the "defenders" of Zimmerman, selectively picked facts, and witnesses who were never interviewed the way they were supposed to be because the police didn't do the job they're paid to do.
Add on to that the simple outrage of letting the body of the victim lie there for three days as a John Doe when next of kin were calling up every day looking for him, and he had a cell phone on him with his emergency contacts listed, and you have a complete outrage.
Was Zimmerman a racist? Not relevant.
Was Trayvon a short-tempered bully? Not relevant.
What is relevant is that a person was killed and the police did nothing to investigate what happened, and took the word of the killer.
Was the killer telling the truth? It's possible he was (except for the bit about returning to his truck, which looks far fetched right now).
You know what? No one will ever know, because no proper investigation was done.
If nothing else, that police dept needs to be overhauled from top to bottom. Incompetence would be a kind description of their skills.
