主题：旁边的不到20分钟车程的小区竟发生了轰动全美的大事 -- 肥猫

http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-03/21/c_111684682.htm

美白人协警“正当防卫”射杀手无寸铁17岁非洲裔少年

警方拒绝逮捕引发全国争议，司法部介入调查

美国司法部１９日晚宣布，将调查佛罗里达州一名白人协警射杀手无寸铁的非洲裔少年一案。当地警方先前以正当防卫为由拒绝逮捕这名协警，触发民众不满，案件最终成为全国关注的争议话题。

　　枪杀

　　上月２６日晚，现年２８岁的“义务警员”乔治齐默尔曼，在佛罗里达州桑福德一个居民区巡逻，认定一名非洲裔少年形迹可疑。拨打“９１１”报警电话后，齐默尔曼开始跟踪并与少年对峙，然后开枪打死对方。

　　根据警方上周公布的电话录音，齐默尔曼当时报告发现“一名可疑人员”非法闯入居民区，“看上去不怎么好”。

　　警方调度员询问齐默尔曼是否跟踪对方，得到肯定回答后，告知齐默尔曼“我们不需要你这么做”。

　　齐默尔曼显然执意跟踪。居民随后报警电话的录音记录下两声枪响和居民尖叫。

　　事后调查发现，非洲裔少年特雷冯马丁（右图）１７岁，当时到附近一家便利店为弟弟买完糖果，正准备走进亲友家门，身上没有携带任何武器。

　　争议

　　桑福德警方事后拒绝逮捕涉案协警，理由是齐默尔曼声称开枪属于正当防卫，受法律保护。

　　佛州刑事诉讼专家戴维希尔认为，警方已经确认没有证据质疑齐默尔曼正当防卫的说法，如果控方找不到目击者证人提出疑义，寻求让齐默尔曼接受法律制裁的努力难度不小。

　　齐默尔曼得以“逍遥”，让当地一些民众愤怒。巴里大学法学院学生卡尔麦克费尔认为，齐默尔曼不顾警方调度员指示，执意跟踪并打死马丁，不能算自卫：“我不认为，一个被要求待在车里、但继续发动汽车的人能宣称自卫。”

　　另一些居民怀疑齐默尔曼枪杀少年牵扯种族主义。旅馆业主琳达蒂尔曼说，“你会觉得桑福德还活在十九世纪，打死一个手无寸铁的男孩会被称作自卫”。

　　介入

　　美联社报道，美国黑人民权运动领袖阿尔沙普顿定于２０日晚参加桑福德市举行的一次会议，研究当局调查过程是否存在问题。

　　美国一个名为“变革”(Change.org)的请愿活动网站介绍，截至１９日，网站征集到４３.５万网民签名，包括电影导演和音乐人等名流，呼吁逮捕齐默尔曼。这是网站设立以来规模第三大请愿活动。

　　美国司法部１９日晚发表声明，“将全面而独立地调查所有证据，依据调查结论采取适当行动”。

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/us/justice-department-investigation-is-sought-in-florida-teenagers-shooting-death.html?ref=opinion#

Justice Department Investigation Is Sought in Florida Teenager’s Shooting Death

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: March 16, 2012

MIAMI — Nearly three weeks after an unarmed teenager was killed in a small city north of Orlando, stirring an outcry, a few indisputable facts remain: the teenager, who was black, was carrying nothing but a bag of Skittles, some money and a can of iced tea when he was shot. The neighborhood crime watch volunteer who got out of his car and shot him is white and Hispanic. He has not been arrested and is claiming self-defense.

Beyond that, however, little is clear about the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17.

As criticism of the police investigation mounts, so too do the calls for swift action in a case with heavy racial overtones. Protests grow larger each week, and lawyers for the family are now asking the Department of Justice to intervene. The case also brings into sharp focus Florida’s self-defense laws, which give people who feel threatened greater latitude in defending themselves than most states.

The police in of Sanford, where the shooting took place, are not revealing details of the investigation. Late Friday night, after weeks of pressure, the police played the 911 calls in the case for the family and gave copies to the news media. On the recordings, one shot, an apparent warning or miss, is heard, followed by a voice begging or pleading, and a cry. A second shot is then heard, and the pleading stops.

“It is so clear that this was a 17-year-old boy pleading for his life, and someone shot him in cold blood,” said Natalie Jackson, one of the Martin family lawyers.

The police maintain that under state law they cannot arrest George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer who was licensed to carry a concealed weapon, without probable cause. They turned the case over to the Seminole County state attorney this week.

A few neighborhood residents who say they heard a disturbance were interviewed by the police. But now two witnesses are coming forward to say their interviews were cursory, a charge the police department denies.

“The evidence doesn’t establish so far that Mr. Zimmerman did not act in self-defense,” Chief Bill Lee of the Sanford police said this week, responding to why Mr. Zimmerman had not been arrested. He said he would welcome a federal investigation. “We don’t have anything to dispute his claim of self-defense at this point.”

Florida’s self-defense law, known as Stand Your Ground, grants immunity to people who act to protect themselves if they have a reasonable fear they will be killed or seriously injured.

“Stand Your Ground is a law that has really created a Wild West type environment in Florida,” said Brian Tannebaum, a criminal defense lawyer in Florida. “It allows people to kill people outside of their homes, if they are in reasonable fear for their lives. It’s a very low standard.”

For Trayvon’s parents, the situation does not add up. They want Mr. Zimmerman arrested and the normal criminal justice process to begin.

“Everybody is outraged,” said Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father. “There is no justice in this. The public is outraged because my son only had snacks in his pocket, no weapon whatsoever, not even a fingernail file. For him to be murdered by someone who weighs more than 100 pounds than him, more than 10 years older than him, this is an outrage.”

Echoing a view held by many blacks in Sanford and elsewhere, the family’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said the police appeared to be protecting Mr. Zimmerman.

“Had Trayvon been the person who was the triggerman, they would have arrested him from Day 1 and they wouldn’t have given him bail and he would be sitting in jail,” Mr. Crump said. “Zimmerman is free and sleeping in his own bed at night.”

Frustration also grew after the parents said they had been told by detectives that Mr. Zimmerman had a “squeaky clean” record. They knew this, the detectives said, because Mr. Zimmerman told them. But Mr. Zimmerman had been arrested in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a police officer. The charges were later dropped.

The police said it took them some time to run the check.

“A criminal background check was conducted within 12 to 24 hours after we got the call,” Sgt. David Morgenstern said.

Mr. Zimmerman lives in the predominantly white gated community where the shooting took place. A criminal justice major in college, he often patrolled the streets in his car. In the last 14 months, Mr. Zimmerman had made 46 calls to the police, officials said, reporting everything from alarms and disturbances to reckless driving and, most commonly, a “suspicious” person.

That night, he saw Trayvon, a tall Miami high school junior, shortly after 7 p.m. with the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, the police said. Trayvon had returned from a convenience store and was headed for his father’s girlfriend’s house, where he was staying.

Mr. Zimmerman trailed Trayvon in his car and placed a call to the police. The dispatcher told him to stay in his car and said the police would be on the way. But Mr. Zimmerman got out.

The two got into a struggle that was partly overheard by a few neighbors. Mr. Zimmerman wound up with a bloody nose and a cut to the back of his head. Trayvon was shot in the chest.

Mary Cutcher and her roommate said they heard Trayvon pleading. Then they heard a gunshot. They rushed outside and saw Mr. Zimmerman standing over the teenager. Ms. Cutcher said she did not think it was self-defense and added that the police took only a brief statement, despite her efforts to go into detail.

In a statement Thursday, the police said her statement to them matched Mr. Zimmerman’s.