Two years ago, Trevor Dooley, a 69-year-old school bus driver, walked across the street from his home in Valrico to stop kids from skateboarding in a neighborhood park. At the time, David James, 41, an Iraq War veteran, was playing basketball with his 8-year-old daughter, Danielle, on a court in the park.
When the older man tried to chase away the skateboarders, the younger man stuck up for the kids.
The verbal argument between the two men turned physical. The daughter of the younger man would later testify how the confrontation ended.
"Did the man try to walk away at any point?" Danielle James was asked.
"Yeah, like my dad got on top of him to keep him down," the girl testified.
And that's when the older man fired a single shot, killing the younger man who had the best of him in their physical confrontation.
Dooley, the older man, is black.
James, the younger man, was white.
And just as in the Martin case, the unarmed person was killed by the armed person who claimed that he feared for his life.
The difference here is race.
So how long did the 69-year-old black man get to walk the streets of Valrico while the local authorities yielded to his claim of protection under the state's stand-your-ground law?
Less than two days.
The shooting happened on a Sunday. By that Tuesday afternoon, Dooley was charged with manslaughter.
His case, and his claim of protection under the state's gun law, is now a matter for the criminal justice system to sort out.
White shooter - no arrest a month later, and counting.
Black shooter - charged the second day.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/cerabino-with-florida-gun-law-its-really-a-2263423.html
Still wondering, though, why this writer and so many others still insist on defining Zimmerman as "white"...