© Orlando Sentinel/Red Huber
The admission comes a day after the Justice Department announced that it has launched an investigation of the slaying of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman last month as a possible hate crime.
On a tape of one of Zimmerman's 911 calls the night of the shooting, he is heard saying under his breath what sounds like "f**ing coons." Seconds later he confronted Martin and after a brief scuffle shot him dead.
Zimmerman claimed self defense, and was not charged with any crime.
It's the latest in a series of possible police missteps uncovered by ABC News.
The Sanford Police Department has come under withering criticism for failing to reach out to Martin's girlfriend, who was talking to the teen on his cell phone and heard the altercation with Zimmerman take place.
Among other issues, police have been criticized for:
Withholding a batch of telling 911 calls, including the one revealing Zimmerman's possible racist remark.
Sending a narcotics detective to the scene, instead of a homicide detective, as is typical for homicides.
And failing to administer a drug and alcohol test to Zimmerman that night, which homicide investigator Rod Wheeler called a "fatal flaw in the investigation."
"The fact that Mr. Zimmerman was not given a toxicology test or breathalyzer examination is huge. Very huge," Wheeler said. He also wondered why Zimmerman's vehicle was not investigated or impounded.
The Sanford Police Department says it stands by its investigation, and that it was not race or incompetence that prevented it from arresting Zimmerman but the law.
Martin had left his father's fiance's home to buy a pack of skittles at a convenience store. On the way back he called his 16-year-old girlfriend. She was on the phone with him as he told her about a man following him.
"He said this man was watching him," the girl recounted. "So he put his hoodie on, said he lost the man. I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast, I told him to run but he said was not going to run."
But the man would catch up to Trayvon, she recalled.
"Trayvon said, 'What are you following me for?' and the man said, 'What are you doing here?' Next thing I hear is somebody pushing and somebody push Trayvon, because the headset just fell," she said. "I called him again and he didn't answer the phone."
Turning Murder on its head-Dying Blue
A wise gent, I once knew,
And a lawyer, too;
Said that
he learned in school
That, hard cases make for bad laws.
The guy who did the shooting here deserves to be prosecuted. It is no surprise to anyone here that, at least so far, no state attorney has charged the scumbag shooter. After all, the victim was black and quite obviously guilty of what is known to local cops as "WWB." (Walking while black.) [sarcastic comment on a reality]
A review of the statute will show that it doesn't allow someone to chase someone down and shoot them. The mere fact of the refusal of the local "authorities" (so far) to prosecute is nothing new to those of us from here.
What is NOT needed is a change of laws; just a change of the lawyers who CLAIM to represent the State of Florida. They don't. If they did, you'd see a lot of cops being prosecuted for assault and murder - after all, (at least - if sadly - only theoretically), they are criminally liable if they commit same. If that scumbag guy HAD been a cop, there would not even be an article here to read, unless someone (a la Rodney King, et alia, ad infinitum) had a video to prove the lie.
Indeed, local cops are now TURNING OFF their video cameras because they so routinely prove the lies behind their overtly false and "sworn" reports, which (again, theoretically) should subject them to perjury charges. We of Florida, the U.S., the world, are waiting with bated breath for same to happen, but we're instead simply dying blue...
R.C.
P.s. I believe this is my first re-posting (I assume it should be called that) not just here, but in my life.
There but for the grace of God - at least in this poor kid and his family - go each and all of us.
r.c.