Now another witness has come foward in the Trayvon Martin killing case — and what she has to say on NBC’s Dateline is likely to increase the clamor for gun-toting neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman’s arrest. The Daily Mail:
A woman has stepped forward, saying she witnessed the final moments of Trayvon Martin’s life.
In an interview set to air on Dateline tonight, Mary Cutcher said that she and her roommate ran out after hearing the shot.
She said that Zimmerman had ‘his hands pressed on his back’ and ‘never turned him over or tried to help him.’
The account puts in sharp contrast what Zimmerman’s long-time friend Joe Oliver said on both Good Morning America and the Today show.
On both morning shows, Mr Oliver said Zimmerman was in shambles after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Speaking on Good Morning America today, Joe Oliver said: ‘After this started – the reports I got – (Zimmerman) couldn’t stop crying.’
He also confirmed that Zimmerman is in hiding and is fearful for his life, especially after yesterday, when the Black Panthers placed a $10,000 bounty on his ‘capture.’
Mr Oliver also identified the voice screaming in the now-infamous 911 tapes as the Neighbourhood Watch captain, not of Martin.
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‘From the clips that I’ve heard online, I heard George. That sounded like someone who was in dire need of help. It sounded like George.’However, several people who witnessed the deadly shooting last month said the shrieks were that of a teenager.
Prediction One: Sooner or later Zimmerman will be arrested, whether on the orders of local or federal officials.
Prediction two: the rally tomorrow in Florida on the killing will be a highly emotional one due to this new detail — which adds to the accumulating narrative details that (correctly or not) paint the portrait of someone doing neighborhood watch who considered himself a de facto law enforcement officer versus the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
Prediction Three: As more details emerge, there will be contradictory accounts. This issue has already become politicized but there will be a general consensus in the U.S. when it’s all over that will transcend politicization.
A woman who says she and her roommate witnessed the final moments of Trayvon Martin’s life told Dateline NBC that George Zimmerman had “his hands pressed on his back” and “never turned him over or tried to help him.”
Zimmerman’s lawyer, when shown part of the interview being aired Sunday night on Dateline, emphasized that his client would be claiming self-defense.
“I think there were efforts made to render aid to Trayvon,” Craig Sonner told NBC’s TODAY show.
Mary Cutcher told Dateline that she and her roommate both saw Zimmerman “straddling the body, basically a foot on both sides of Trayvon’s body, and his hands pressed on his back.”
Cutcher added that Zimmerman told her and her roommate to call the police.
“Zimmerman never turned him over or tried to help him or CPR or anything,” Cutcher said.
Sonner also reiterated what he had said in recent days, that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose and a gash to the back of his head.
Expect more details to keep trickling out — and an arrest of Zimmerman by some level of law enforcement would not be a surprise.
Various rallies will be held Monday in several cities in support of the killed teen, who was armed with Skittles and an iced tea when he was shot.
Another fact about this case: all the facts are not in. And no one yet knows for certain what portrait a fully compiled list of facts will assemble.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.