Trayvon shooter's tale doubted

In Decatur, Ala., residents hold hands during a prayer session Wednesday in memory of Trayvon Martin.
In Decatur, Ala., residents hold hands during a prayer session Wednesday in memory of Trayvon Martin. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Video shows Zimmerman with no visible injuries

Posted: March 29, 2012

POLICE IN SANFORD, Fla., marched a handcuffed George Zimmerman into police headquarters the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, and a video shot by a security camera picked up no obvious sign of injury to the neighborhood-watch volunteer.

The video first aired Wednesday night on ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer."

Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old from Miami Gardens Feb. 26.

Police said that Zimmerman told them he shot Martin in self-defense after the 6-foot high-school junior punched him, got on top of him then began banging his head into a sidewalk.

Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and back of his head, according to a police report, but the video, provided to ABC News by the city of Sanford, shows no obvious sign of injury, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

He was tended at the scene by paramedics, but he told them that he did not need to go to a hospital, police reported.

The video shows a somber Zimmerman, hands cuffed behind his back, stepping from a patrol car, surrounded by several officers, walking through a door, then returning.

Meanwhile, McClatchy Newspapers reported that despite public claims that there wasn't enough probable cause to make a criminal case in the killing, early in the investigation Sanford police requested an arrest warrant from the Seminole County State Attorney's Office.

A Sanford Police incident report shows that the case was categorized as "homicide/negligent manslaughter."

The State Attorney's Office held off pending further review, McClatchy Newspapers has learned.

Zimmerman, 28, an insurance underwriter and college student, was never charged, triggering a nationwide crusade on Martin's behalf.

The report of an arrest-warrant request contradicts statements repeatedly made by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, who has since stepped aside and was lambasted for his handling of the case. Lee publicly insisted that there was no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman, leading many critics to say that he came across more like a defense attorney for Zimmerman.

"Zimmerman provided a statement claiming he acted in self-defense, which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony," Lee wrote in a memo posted on the city's website.

"By Florida Statute, law enforcement was prohibited from making an arrest based of the facts and circumstances they had at the time," Lee wrote.

He cited the statute number for Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which provides immunity to people who kill someone in self-defense.

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