Witnesses In Trayvon Martin Death Heard 

Cries Before Shot 

  

Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoodie

(Sanford, FL -  3/21/12) They heard the desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.   Trayvon Martin, 17, died Feb. 26 in a dark pathway some 20 minutes after a neighborhood watch  volunteer called police saying he thought a young stranger looked suspicious. It was raining, and the volunteer thought the kid in the hoodie walked too slow and peeked in windows.   

From Facebook to Twitter and online petitions, local police and prosecutors are getting tens of thousands of demands for criminal charges as the national media shines a spotlight on a small, racially diverse central Florida town with a history of police tension. There are now more and more calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene and try to answer: What really happened to Trayvon Martin?

"I heard someone crying - not boo-hoo crying, but scared or terrified or hurt maybe," said Mary Cutcher, 31, who lives in the Retreat at TwinLakes townhome community where the shooting occurred. "To me, it was a child."

Zimmerman said he tailed Trayvon in a mission to find out if the teen was up to no good. Zimmerman was out to put a stop to recent burglaries. He dialed police - his 46th call since 2001 to report shady people, reckless drivers and other disturbances around his neighborhood. 

He offered to follow his suspect, but the dispatcher told him: "We don't need you to do that." 

Some minutes later, Trayvon was killed with a gun the watch volunteer was licensed to carry.

"This was not self-defense," Cutcher said. "We heard no fighting, no wrestling, no punching. We heard a boy crying. As soon as the shot went off, it stopped, which tells me it was the child crying. If it had been Zimmerman crying, it wouldn't have stopped. If you're hurting, you're hurting."

She and her friend say they heard the sounds from a few steps away, where they were inside beside an open window. Seconds later, they dashed out to find a boy face down on the ground and a man standing over him, a foot on each side of the body on the ground, with his hands pinning the shooting victim down.

"I asked him, 'What's happening here? What's going on?' " said Cutcher's friend, Selma Mora Lamilla. "The third time, I was indignant, and he said, 'just call the police.' Then I saw him with his hands over his head in the universal sign of: 'Oh man, I messed up.' "

The women, who were the first on the scene, said they saw Zimmerman pacing back and forth. 

"I know what I heard. I heard a cry and a shot," Mora said. "If there was a fight, it did not happen here where the boy was shot. I would have heard it, as this all happened right outside my open window."

The women think there may well have been a physical altercation between the two, but it must have taken place in a different spot, where Zimmerman perhaps had a chance to compose himself and draw his weapon.

*****

A neighborhood eighth-grader out walking his dog said his family also called 911.

"I saw someone lying on the ground, and I heard screaming," said Austin, 13, whose mother asked that his last name not be published. "I don't know that it was the person on the [ground]  who was screaming, but to me it sounded like a kid who was crying.  It was a yell for help, and I think it was Trayvon."

Austin wasn't sure if the person was in a fight or had slipped and gotten hurt. Austin's boxer puppy got off the leash so the boy went chasing after the dog and lost sight of the scene for a moment.  Then, he heard a gun go off.

He ran home and told his sister to call the police. The boy, who is black, has been rattled ever since. He feels angry and disconcerted, and wonders whether he's at risk too.

"That people can stereotype like that makes you scared," he said. 

Austin's mom said he's been acting out in school and seems mad all the time.

"My son has a terrible feeling of guilt, because he did not do anything to help. He's angry," said Austin's mother, Cheryl Brown. "They are saying that Trayvon looked suspicious, because he was walking slow. So I guess I have to tell my son: make sure you always run fast."

Click this link to read the full story. 

.

(By Frances Robles, Reprinted from the Miami Herald, 3/21/12)

Women of the Word In Red

(L to R) Bea Williams and Pamela Price at the Women of the Word Prayer Breakfast

On the weekend of Sunday, March 18, 2012, Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ in Hayward, California celebrated the women of the church by hosting the "Women of the Word Conference 2012." The color for the Sunday morning prayer breakfast was red and the women of Glad Tidings, including Attorney Price, showed up in red. The weekend guests included the dynamic Brown Sisters of Chicago who ministered in song with their beautiful harmonies and strong  messages of hope and faith. First Lady Vanessa Macklin, wife of Bishop Jerry Macklin, presided over the event, exhorting all of the women to support each other and to increase their discipline in their financial affairs. On Saturday, women were encouraged to present their business ventures, and Price And Associates participated in the annual business fair along with many other female entrepreneurs. 

 Black Students at Stanford University Host Panel: "Justice for Trayvon"

On Friday, April 6, 2012, Attorney Price spoke to almost one hundred college students at Stanford University along with four other distinguished panelists on "Justice for Trayvon."

Sponsored by the Black Community Services Center at Stanford (BCSC), the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Stanford NAACP, the event focused on the legal and cultural ramifications of the killing of Trayvon Martin. 

Panelists included Attorney Pamela Price, Attorney Simona Farrise of the Farrise Law Firm, Stanford Law School Professor Mark Kelman, Samy Alim,  a Stanford School of Education professor and Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, and Ajani Husbands, a 2005 Stanford graduate and Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State currently serving as a Consular Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Jan Barker-Alexander, Associate Dean of Students and BCSC Director, moderated the panel. In addition to the rich perspectives of the panelists, the event featured a lively discussion amongst the students who echoed the theme that has invigorated American's youth: "I am Trayvon Martin."

For more information, click on this link:  www.stanforddaily.com.

 Occupy Oakland Hit and Run Victims File Suit

 

The Occupy Wall Street Movement came to Oakland on October 10, 2011. In conjunction with the occupation of Oscar Grant Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall, there were ongoing protests and marches, usually originating from the Plaza. On November 2, 2011, Margaret So and Lance Laverdure, two young residents of Oakland, participated in a peaceful march down Broadway. It was their first day attending the protests and they were drawn by the cross-section of participants, the unity and positive energy of the event.  The march was described by some participants and witnesses as a "parade" and a "festival like" atmosphere.

Occupy Oakland Protest on November 2, 2011 (Wikipedia)

At approximately 6:48 p.m., at the intersection of 11th and Broadway, the driver of a silver Mercedes Benz who appeared to be impatient as the marchers crossed in front of his car on Broadway, accelerated and ran Margaret So and Lance Laverdure down.  The car sped forward, tossing So to the side and launching Laverdure onto the hood and then into the air. Laverdure landed with a thud, witnesses say.

Margaret So, victim of Occupy Oakland hit and run incident

The driver of the Mercedes Benz whose picture appears in dozens of photographs and videos of the event appears to be Caucasian. 

Witnesses at the scene ran into a nearby subway station and alerted Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police. BART police responded and eventually allowed the Mercedes to leave the scene. There were two people in the Mercedes. BART police let the suspects go without a citation, failing to do basic crime scene evidence collection, and, in fact, actively assisted the male suspect and his female passenger's escape from the scene, losing critical evidence.

Despite extensive video footage, photographs, dozens of witnesses, broken bones and bruised spirits, the extensive evidence has failed to produce any criminal prosecution. Five months later the driver still has not been questioned, cited or arrested by the Oakland Police Department. Despite the incident occurring a mere 5 blocks from OPD headquarters in downtown Oakland with hundreds of witnesses ready to cooperate with police, the investigation by Oakland Police Department was slow and unfruitful. Numerous witnesses, including So, were not even interviewed by Oakland police until after the case received media attention. 

Within days of the incident, So and Laverdure hired Price And Associates and the Farrise Law Firm to hold the police and the driver accountable. The first case was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on March 16, 2012 against the owner of the car who they suspect is also the passenger who escaped justice on November 2, 2011.  Further legal action is anticipated against BART and the Oakland Police Department.

If you are a witness to the November 2, 2011 crime, or know the identity of the driver and/or passenger, please call 1-800-748-6186.  Or, send an email to: info@farriselaw.com.

LCCR Second Chance Clinic