Trouble has way of finding Zimmerman
George Zimmerman is back in the news. Trouble just has a way of finding him. Since his arrest for the murder of an unarmed teenager, he’s become a household name. The ex-neighborhood watchman needs somebody to watch him.
Since he was acquitted in that case in July, he’s had numerous brushes with the law ever since. Five of them. He’s managed to get pulled over by police for traffic violations three times. He got two warnings and one ticket for them.
Then, there was that ugly business with his estranged wife, Shellie, in September, in which she called 911 and claimed he’d made threats against her and that he’d punched her father.
Mrs. Zimmerman had asked her husband to gather up his personal belongings and move out of their house, and, according to her, Zimmerman responded by leaving a bullet-filled target nailed to one of the home’s walls.
“This person that I’m married to that I’m divorcing, I’ve kind of realized now that I don’t know him,” she told Today Show host Matt Lauer.
Shellie Zimmerman, after taking the matter up with her attorney, declined to have her husband prosecuted.
He certainly doesn’t appear to be the same person that many people across the country thought was merely acting in self-defense when he encountered that 17-year-old in February of 2012.
He’s become a menace. But that started before he shot and killed young Trayvon Martin. Back in 2005 he attacked an undercover officer who apparently was trying to arrest one of his friends. That led to Zimmerman having to take an anger management course. He must’ve flunked it. Later in 2005, he had a restraining order filed against him, when his former fianc茅e claimed she’d been the victim of domestic violence.
Let’s recap: One attack on an undercover officer, that led to an anger management course and a restraining order filed against him in 2005; in 2013, there’ve been three traffic stops and an alleged case of domestic abuse; and in 2012, there was the shooting death of a kid carrying Skittles. Yet, George Zimmerman has only suffered the consequences of one speeding violation. That could change.
Last week, Zimmerman’s girlfriend, 27-year-old Samantha Scheibe, called the police to her rented home in Apopka, Fla. She claimed that Zimmerman pointed a long-barreled shotgun at her and started smashing a glass table — after, she claims, he was told to move out. Scheibe claimed that the former graduate of that anger-management course eventually pushed her out of her own home and then barricaded himself inside.
“I need police right now,” she’s heard saying on the call to 911. “He’s in my house breaking all my things because I asked him to leave. He has his frickin’ gun breaking all my stuff right now,” she added.
By now, Zimmerman has learned the best defense is also a well planned offense. So he placed his own 911 call after the police arrived on the scene.
“My girlfriend has, for the lack of a better word, gone crazy on me,” he’s heard saying on the 911 tape.
If anybody knows crazy, it’s probably George Zimmerman.
The 911 dispatcher could hear the police knocking on the door while Zimmerman was on the phone. So they asked him why he simply didn’t just open it and walk outside. But Zimmerman has become something of an expert in thet fine art of media relations. His reply was, “I just want everyone to know the truth.”
He was subsequently taken into custody, and he appeared in court the following afternoon on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor battery and criminal mischief.
He’s barred from leaving the state (which should make people across the country heave a sigh of relief) and having guns in his possession. He’s also been ordered to remain at least 1,500 feet away from Sheibe’s residence.
Bail was set at $9,000. He was released later in the day. His next appearance in court is scheduled for Jan. 7. I’m betting he’ll make new headlines before that.
Edward A. Owens is a three time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net