General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If someone followed you and asked "What are you doing around here?" How would you react? [View all]hfojvt
(37,573 posts)I would like to have more facts. For example, the phone records should show how long Trayvon was on the phone with his "girlfriend" and from what time to what time they talked. The 911 calls, Zimmerman's and those of the neighbors where you hear screams and a shot (or shots) should also be recordd as to time. The whole incident can be put on a timeline that way. How long was it between Zimmerman's call and Martin's death?
According to Zimmerman's call, which I have listen to a few times. Martin walks past his parked vehicle and then Zimmerman gets out to follow, and Martin runs. Was Zimmerman following him earlier in the vehicle? For how long?
I have no idea what the answer to either of those questions is.
As to the answer to the first question, unasked. How would I react if somebody followed me. First of all, how do I know they are following me? Because they are going in the same direction? If I go by and they get out of their vehicle and walk behind me, that still does not prove they are following me.
A car burbling along behind me as I walk would be a freaky situation. I would be paranoid that it is loaded with thugs looking to jump me. In fact, once it was, but they settled for hurling a couple insults at me. The worst part was, the driver that time was a kid who was on the same little league baseball team as me. I was like "WTF Brett, I thought we used to be friends?" But I never said that because he was with a big, blond gorilla.
Another time a car pulled up behind me at two in the morning, which seemed like trouble three blocks from my apartment. I was relieved whien it turned out to be a cop, but then I felt like I almost got beat up by the cop. He demanded ID and I said "Fuck you. I am not required to carry ID to walk the streets, much less to show it."
Those weren't my exact words. I believe I just asked "why?" and then handed it over after his empty reply which didn't really answer the question. He said something like "Well, you are out on the street at 2 AM so we are kinda suspicious."
In the second question. If somebody really is following me on foot, I probably am not going to let them catch me. My basic strategy for staying alive in any potentially dangerous situation is "run like a rabbit". The other strategy is "be polite". My absolute rudest response would probably be "Huh? I live around here. I went to the store and I am going home." Later when I got home I might vent about some a-hole who stopped me on the street.
Once when I rented a car, I dropped it off on Sunday night and was walking the three miles home. I stopped at Wal-mart to shop and was about 90% done with my shopping when two store security people told me I had to put my bag behind the counter. I actually complied with that, even though it meant more unnecessary walking. I sorta wish I had just walked out and left them to restock what was in my cart, but what can I say, the pop was on sale and I wanted the cheap pop more than I wanted to tell them to fuck off.