When I was younger, I was attacked while at school in Philly. Out of the blue, I received a punch in the head. Never saw it coming. Within seconds, I had a guy slamming my head into a windshield. If I had to estimate the amount of times, I would guess ten. I could barely gather my thoughts while it was happening and couldn't see anything but blurs.
What was I feeling at that moment? That I was going to die. The fist blows stopped for a second and impulsively I threw a punch, hitting my assailant in the cheek. Somehow I got away from them (it turned out to be a few guys).
What would I have done if I had a gun? Hard to say - but I can tell you this. I felt as if my life was being threatened and I had no idea of when, if at all, it was going to end. When you have someone on top of you, beating you like that, you have no control.
What did George Zimmerman do? He grabbed his gun and ended the assault. I don't know that I would do the same thing if I had a gun, but then again, my head was being smashed into a windshield (which broke from the pressure).
His was being smashed into concrete.
Let me ask this question: What kind of person smashes another person's head into a concrete pavement, over and over again. That appears to have been the case here. I can buy the fact that Trayvon Martin was maybe making a point. But why couldn't he have punched him when he was on top of him instead of repeatedly smashing his head into the pavement. That kind of act is beyond the pale, in my opinion.
For the record, I'm basing my opinion on the facts of the case, not hearsay. Not what some people would like the facts to be. This case wasn't very gray in terms of evidence. Zimmerman was beaten. Martin was not, short of the gun shot.
And it's a tragedy that this kid is dead due to a bad decision on his part and another one by Zimmerman. It's horrible that his parents have to endure this kind of heartache.
But I don't know about this one. Having been in this spot, I can tell you without a doubt my life was threatened. How can anyone claim, given the evidence, that his wasn't - or could have known when the beating would end. I received a concussion that put a hairline fracture in part of my skull (which, by the way, I had NO Scrapes on my skull. All internal injuries). I was lucky, but that's because a crowd gathered around.
It's tough for others having not been in this spot to speculate. But this case came down to one thing: who was being threatened. Martin had 4 minutes out of Zimmerman's site. He could have gone home. He didn't. Sad for him. Sad for everyone.