George Zimmerman, who was not initially charged by police in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Marin, was familiar with some of the officers in the Sanford, Fla., police department, having gone on several “ride alongs” with the cops, he told the city’s mayor last year. Click below to read the rest of the story.
But Zimmerman, a criminal studies major, was harsh in his criticism of the cops he had met on the Sanford force calling their on-the-job conduct “disgusting.”
Zimmerman, a member of the neighborhood watch, voiced his opinion at a January 2011 city commission hearing that included then mayor-elect Jeff Triplet.
One officer “showed me his favorite hiding spots for taking naps, explained to me that he doesn’t carry a long gun in his vehicle because in his words anything that requires a long gun requires a lot of paperwork and you’re going to find me as far away from it,” Zimmerman said.
He added the officer “took two lunch breaks and attended a going away party for one of his officers.”
These rides, along with new video showing Zimmerman roaming the police department unescorted just three days after the shooting, are reviving old questions of Zimmerman’s relationship with the department that decided against charging him with a crime on the night of the shooting.
