George Zimmerman, at a bond hearing last month (AP)
A medical report compiled by George Zimmerman’s physician says that Zimmerman “was diagnosed with a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after” he fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
On February 26, the unarmed 17-year-old was walking home in a Sanford, Fla. gated community after buying iced tea and Skittles from a convenience store. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, felt Martin was “suspicious” and followed him. Zimmerman has claimed that the pair got into a fight where Martin punched him in the face, knocked him down and bashed his head into the sidewalk, forcing him to shoot Martin.
ABC News obtained the medical report—part of the evidence during the discovery phase—and says it “shows that Zimmerman also suffered bruising in the upper lip and cheek and lower back pain… But the report also shows Zimmerman declined hospitalization the night of the shooting, and then declined the advice of his doctor to make a follow-up appointment with an ear nose and throat doctor.” Zimmerman also “complained of stress and ‘occasional nausea when thinking about the violence,'” leading the doctor to note that it was “imperative” that Zimmerman “be seen with [sic] his psychologist for evaluation.”
Additionally, “prior to the shooting Zimmerman had been prescribed Adderall and Temazepam, medications that can cause side effects such as agitation and mood swings, but in fewer than 10 percent of patients.”
Zimmerman was arrested and charged with Trayvon’s death weeks after the shooting, with the shooting being initially allowed under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows someone to use force is they believe their life in his danger and remain immune to prosecution. While Zimmerman has been insisting he acted in self-defense, there are questions about whether Trayvon was racially profiled by Zimmerman and whether Zimmerman instigated the confrontation.
In other related news, a Miami-Dade fire captain was demoted to firefighter for writing on Facebook that “urban youths” are the result of “failed, sh–bag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents…. I and my co-workers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, shitbag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth… They’re just misunderstood little church-going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.” Trayvon was wearing a hooded sweatshirt at the time of his death—it was raining—and his mother is a Miami-Dade Housing Authority employee.
