|
 Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who was
acquitted of any charges in the 2012 fatal shooting of unarmed black
teen Trayvon Martin, was charged Monday with aggravated assault,
battery and criminal mischief after his 27-year-old girlfriend
called 911. He was due in court Tuesday, where a judge would decide
whether to grant bond for Zimmerman.
Samantha Scheibe claimed Zimmerman had smashed a glass table,
threatened her with a shotgun and ultimately pushed her out of the
house she rented.
Scheibe told deputies the ordeal started with a verbal argument and
that she asked Zimmerman to leave the house. Her account in the
arrest report says he began packing his belongings, including a
shotgun and an assault rifle. She says she began putting his things
in the living room and outside the house, and he became upset. At
that point, the report says, he took the shotgun out of its case.
Zimmerman told his girlfriend to leave and smashed a pair of her
sunglasses as she walked toward the front door, the report says.
Scheibe told deputies he pushed her out of the house when she got
close to the door.
"You point your gun at my fricking face," Scheibe is heard telling
Zimmerman on a 911 call. "Get out of my house. Do not push me out of
my house. Please get out of my house."
Seconds later, she told the dispatcher, "You kidding me? He pushed
me out of my house and locked me out. ... He knows how to do this.
He knows how to play this game."
Moments later, Zimmerman called 911 from inside the barricaded house
to tell his side of the story.
"I have a girlfriend, who for lack of a better word, has gone crazy
on me," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman then said he never pulled a gun on his girlfriend and that
it was she who smashed a table at the home they shared. He also told
the dispatcher that Scheibe was pregnant with their child and that
she had decided she would raise the child on her own. When Zimmerman
started to leave, "she got mad," he said.
Seminole County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a
news conference that Scheibe wasn't pregnant.
Deputies used a key provided by Scheibe to unlock the door and they
were able to push through the barricade of items, Lemma said.
"She was very concerned for her own safety, especially having the
weapon pointed at her and then being pushed out," he said.
Lemma says Zimmerman was compliant and unarmed when deputies came to
the house.
"The easiest way to describe it is rather passive. Clearly, he's had
the opportunity to encounter situations similar to this in the
past," Lemma said.
The arrest was the latest legal problem for Zimmerman since he was
acquitted last summer of criminal charges in the fatal shooting of
Martin, an unarmed black teen. The case sparked accusations that
Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin and led to nationwide debates
over the so-called Stand Your Ground defense laws in Florida and
other states.
Zimmerman, 30, who identifies himself as Hispanic, has said he shot
the 17-year-old to defend himself during a fight in February 2012
inside a gated community in Sanford, just outside Orlando.
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He wasn't charged until 44 days after the shooting, leading to
protests nationwide from people who believed he should have been
immediately arrested. Demonstrations also broke out after his
acquittal. Federal authorities are now reviewing the case the see if
Martin's civil rights were violated.
"Just when you thought you heard the last of George Zimmerman," said
neighbor Catherine Cantrell. She said she had twice seen a man who
looked like Zimmerman get out of a truck that's been in the driveway
for nearly a month. The truck parked there Monday appeared to be the
same one that reporters have seen Zimmerman drive previously.
"I'm in absolute shock. He was never outside. It's not like he was
out flaunting around," she said.
Cantrell said Scheibe was very sweet and quiet.
Zimmerman has had other brushes with the law since his acquittal.
Zimmerman and his estranged wife were involved in a domestic dispute
in September just days after Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers,
but police later said no charges were filed against either of them
because of a lack of evidence.
Zimmerman has also been pulled over three times for traffic stops
since his acquittal. He was ticketed for doing 60 mph in a 45 mph
zone in Lake Mary, Fla., in September and was given a warning by a
state trooper along Interstate 95 for having a tag cover and windows
that were too darkly tinted. He was also stopped near Dallas in July
and given a warning for speeding.
In 2005, Zimmerman had to take anger management courses after he was
accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest
Zimmerman's friend. Later that year, Zimmerman's former fiancee filed for a restraining
order against him, alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman responded
by requesting a restraining order against her. Both requests were
granted. No criminal charges were filed.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Martin family, was at Harvard
Law School on Monday with the teen's mother, Sybrina Fulton, to
speak at a symposium about Martin's legacy and self-defense laws.
In a telephone interview, Crump said they found out about
Zimmerman's arrest from television reports. He said the news of the
arrest didn't affect their mood because they are focused on
discussing ways to reform self-defense laws.
"They're focused on how we can all better deal with conflict
resolution. But there is a certain irony in that while they were
doing that, at basically the same time that incident was happening
with their son's killer," Crump said.
[Associated
Press; MIKE SCHNEIDER]
Associated Press writers
Kyle Hightower in Orlando, Fla., and Suzette Laboy in Miami
contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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