Trayvon Martin Trial Day 6: Sanford Police Officer Says Zimmerman Story Was Inconsistent

By: Taren Vaughan

The Trayvon Martin murder trial has entered its second week as Sanford police officers Doris Singleton and Chris Serino took the stand today in court. During the first week of the trial, key witness Rachel Jeantel took the stand twice to give her testimony of what occurred the night Trayvon was fatally shot. Day 1 of Rachel’s testimony was met with both criticism and support yet the teenager was able to wrap up her testimony on a much more positive note. Eyewitness Jonathan Good took the stand on Day 5 of the trial and recalled what he saw take place during the scuffle between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. Based on the testimony he gave, Jonathan said he did hear screams but was unsure exactly who the screams were coming from. Aside from the testimonies given so far, George Zimmerman’s attorney Don West is currently under fire over a photo his daughter posted on her Instagram account. And now it has been revealed that George Zimmerman hasn’t been consistent with his account of what happened the night Travyon was killed in the interviews he has had with investigators, The Miami Herald reports:

Some details in George Zimmerman’s account of what happened the night he fatally shot Trayvon Martin changed in his various interviews with investigators, according to testimony Monday in Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial.

But the two lead Sanford Police investigators in the case said under cross-examination that they did not consider the differences in Zimmerman’s statements significant.

“Most people don’t tell you the same story the exact same way two times,” Officer Doris Singleton testified.

The differences between Zimmerman’s initial interviews with the officers and the interrogation on February 29th were also revealed:

In contrast to non-hostile interviews that the officers conducted with Zimmerman the night of Trayvon’s death, the 52-minute interrogation on Feb. 29 was at times tense and antagonistic.

“You wanted to catch him. You wanted to catch the bad guy, the f—–g punk who can’t get away,” Serino said to Zimmerman, referring to a phrase Zimmerman used on the phone with a police dispatcher.

One detail that changed from Singleton’s initial interview with Zimmerman to a walk-through of the scene the next day followed by the Feb. 29 interrogation was what he remembered Trayvon saying to him.

“He jumped out from the bushes. He said, ‘What the f—’s your problem, homie?’” Zimmerman, under Miranda warning, said to Singleton in the recording played in court Monday. “I said, ‘I don’t have a problem.’ He said, ‘Now you have a problem,’ and he punched me in the nose. He just started punching me in the face. I started yelling for help.”

In a later interview, Zimmerman said the teen’s first question was “You got a problem?”

The video clips for Day 6 of the trial can be found below: