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Entertainment

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George Zimmerman Sues NBC And Reporters

December 7th, 2012 3:46 am Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman sued NBC on Thursday, claiming he was defamed when the network edited his 911 call to police after the shooting of Trayvon Martin to make it sound like he was racist.

The former neighborhood watch volunteer filed the lawsuit seeking an undisclosed amount of money in Seminole County, outside Orlando. Also named in the complaint were three reporters covering the story for NBC or an NBC-owned television station.

The complaint said the airing of the edited call has inflicted emotional distress on Zimmerman, making him fear for his life and causing him to suffer nausea, insomnia and anxiety.

The lawsuit claims NBC edited his phone call to a dispatcher in February. In the call, Zimmerman describes following Martin in the gated community where he lived, just moments before he fatally shot the 17-year-old teen during a confrontation.

“NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create a myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,” the lawsuit claims.

NBC spokeswoman Kathy Kelly-Brown said the network strongly disagreed with the accusations made in the complaint.

“There was no intent to portray Mr. Zimmerman unfairly,” she said. “We intend to vigorously defend our position in court.”

Three employees of the network or its Miami affiliate lost their jobs because of the changes.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder but has pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense under Florida’s “stand your ground law.”

The call viewers heard was trimmed to suggest that Zimmerman volunteered to police, with no prompting, that Martin was black: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”

But the portion of the tape that was deleted had the 911 dispatcher asking Zimmerman if the person who had raised his suspicion was “black, white or Hispanic,” to which Zimmerman responded, “He looks black.”



  • chino49p

    It doesn’t matter whether or not he was asked what the persons race was. He was ALREADY tracking the person who he then told the dispatcher when asked, that the guy “looks Black”. He didn’t say “wait a minute UNTIL I can see him good enough to TELL”. He ALREADY had identified him as looking Black, so when asked by the dispatcher about it he said “he lookes Black”.

    This is just another ploy by this jerk & his lawyer to get more money and publicity. They are hoping to pollute the jury pool so they can get out of a trial. It won’t work.

    Wheteher this was racially motivated or not, doesn’t matter. This whole thing was of his making. The teenager wasn’t doing anything wrong, just minding HIS OWN BUSINESS, coming from the 7-11.

    We all warn our wives and children to be wary of strange men who follow and stare at them. If its at night and they are alone and that strange man is following them in a vehicle, that even presents more danger. If they try to run away and hide and that strange man gets out of his vehicle and pursues them then he has definetly crossed the line. He has no right to terrorize my wife or children. If when they come out of hiding and that man accosts them and doesn’t identify himself and give them reasonable assurance that they have NO REASON TO FEAR HIM, then they have every right and REASON to fight like hell to take him out.

    You don’t get to cause a confrontation then just pull your gun out and kill someone. The punk vigilante gz did not even try to fight like a man. His intention was to shoot this guy. He would have stayed at his vehicle like he was supposed to if he wasn’t armed. That gun was the bravado that drove gz that night to take the law into his own hands.