September 10, 2013

George Zimmerman has gone and done it again, and it appears that he is once again being shielded by local police. Listen to the full 911 call from Shellie Zimmerman and you can hear the fear in her voice. Domestic violence is always volatile and it's always unpredictable. Shellie was clearly terrified because, as Chris Hayes noted last night, the presence of a gun always changes things.

Shellie Zimmerman to 911 operator on Monday: "I don't know what he is capable of. I'm just really scared."

She was right to be scared. It seems she was making a video record of Zimmerman's activity on her iPad, which he destroyed. Florida Sun-Times reports:

Police investigating a possible domestic violence incident involving George Zimmerman and his wife told reporters this afternoon there may be video of what happened on an iPad.

However, the tablet was smashed and "is in multiple pieces," Lake Mary police spokesman Officer Zach Hudson said today.

Police are still investigating to determine whether Shellie or George Zimmerman should be charged with domestic-violence battery.

It's also possible George would be charged with destruction of evidence, if police confirm Shellie's complaint that George broke the iPad.

"It's been pretty badly damaged," Hudson said.

It's in "several pieces," he said and at mid-day was at the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, where computer experts were trying to salvage the video she recorded yesterday as the dispute unfolded.

That video, he said, would be a "key component" in his agency's charging decision.

See that part where they're investigating to see whether Shellie or George should be charged? It seems that George claims Shellie hit him in the back and he was just defending himself.

Police are also saying there was no gun. That stretches belief beyond its limits, particularly since his own lawyer confirmed he had one with him. Well, his lawyer before he resigned, anyway. Here's what he said, via Daily Kos:

O'MARA: "The gun was holstered under his shirt, and it stayed there the whole time."

Earth to anyone who still doubts: George Zimmerman is a bully, an abuser, and views himself as the victim of everything always. He's been enabled by family and friends, too. Is it any wonder Shellie Zimmerman left the man after he left her hanging out to suffer the sole consequence of Trayvon Martin's murder? He couldn't even be bothered to appear in court with her.

PR Watch has a great summary of his history of violence. Two facts scream for attention. First, he has a very, very long history of domestic violence. Second, there is a pattern of blaming the victim. From their article, after the court issues an injunction ordering him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend:

The next day, on August 10, Zimmerman filed a petition asking the court to protect him from his ex-girlfriend, Zuazo. In that petition, he acknowledged that she had already sought a restraining order against him. That is, he did not call 9-1-1 as she did immediately following the violent fight and he did not report any claim of violence the following day, as she did. He pursued an order only after a court ordered him to stay away from her. In his petition, he lists the name of his criminal defense attorney in the case involving the violent incident with a law enforcement officer as his counsel.

And this:

According to Zimmerman, "we started arguing and she started to get upset and violent."

He said he told her he "wanted nothing more to do with her" and asked for any belongings that remained at her house. He said she refused and said she would give them to him in the morning, the only point of agreement in their two versions of events.

I have firsthand experience with people like this. It is always the victim's fault in the abuser's twisted mind. They start it, they provoke it, they pick on the poor abuser until he has no option but to retaliate with some form of force. It starts verbal and ends physical. Even though it was the mean victim who started it, that same victim is always -- ALWAYS -- the one who ends up with broken bones, teeth, bruises and destroyed property. But it still is their fault, according to the manipulative abuser.

Just as Trayvon Martin was "asking for it" by daring to walk through a neighborhood at night texting his girlfriend and wearing a hoodie, so too did Shellie Zimmerman "ask for it" by trying to document his behavior on Monday.

Here's the question ALEC and others need to ask themselves. If Shellie Zimmerman or her father had been shot by George Zimmerman Monday, would George Zimmerman have gotten off on Stand Your Ground laws yet again? He came to their house, destroyed their property, attacked her father, and threatened her. It's not that much different from what he did to Trayvon Martin, except that in Martin's case, Zimmerman felt free to kill the dude who he felt was wronging him. That is a huge difference, but in the larger universe of domestic violence it's not unusual for the abuser to kill their target because they felt 'threatened.'

If ever there was a case for getting rid of these stupid laws, George Zimmerman's it. If ever there was a stronger case for cleaning up the police departments, this is also it. How they say Zimmerman didn't have a gun with him defies logic. The man, by his own admission, carries a gun everywhere. Yet somehow he forgot it while going to harass his soon-to-be ex-wife? Come on, cops. You can do better than that.

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