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| This image provided by the Seminole County Sheriff`s Office shows former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman after he was arrested Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, in Apopka, Fla. Authorities said they responded to a disturbance call at a house earlier in the day. |
APOPKA, Fla.
(AP) -- George Zimmerman told a 911 operator that he never pulled a gun
on his girlfriend, and that it was she who smashed a table at the home
they shared outside Orlando.
Zimmerman said on the 911 call Monday that the girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, also became upset when he started to leave.
Deputies didn't buy Zimmerman's story and charged him with aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief.
Scheibe
told deputies that Zimmerman smashed a glass table with his firearm,
pointed the gun at her and shoved her out of their home after she asked
him to leave.
The arrest was the latest legal
problem for Zimmerman since he was acquitted of criminal charges in the
fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen. The case, and
claims that the killing was racially motivated, stoked a discussion on
racial profiling across the country.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
George
Zimmerman was charged with assault Monday after his girlfriend called
deputies to the home where they were living and claimed he pointed a
shotgun at her during an argument, authorities said.
The
girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, called 911 in the early afternoon to say
that Zimmerman had smashed a glass table, threatened her with the
shotgun and ultimately pushed her out of the house, according to an
arrest report. After pushing her out, Zimmerman barricaded the door with
furniture and refused to leave, saying that he would talk to police by
phone, authorities said.
Deputies used a key
provided by Scheibe to unlock the door and they were able to push
through the barricade of items, Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a news
conference hours after the arrest.
"She was very concerned for her own safety especially having the weapon pointed at her and then being pushed out," Lemma 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," he
said of the former neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted
earlier this year on criminal charges in the shooting death of Trayvon
Martin.
Zimmerman was charged with domestic
aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic battery and criminal
mischief. His first appearance was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. He
will be housed in a single-person cell and guards will check on him
hourly, Lemma added.
Scheibe told deputies
that 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.
"Scheibe then
advised Zimmerman that she was calling the Police because she was
nervous about why he pulled out the Shotgun. Zimmerman then pointed the
Shotgun at Scheibe for a minute, and asked her if she really wanted to
do that," the report states. "Scheibe stepped back, at which time
Zimmerman smashed a glass coffee table, belonging to Scheibe, with the
butt of the Shotgun."
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 that he
pushed her out of the house when she got close to the door.
Benjamin
Crump, the attorney for the Martin family, was at Harvard Law School
Monday with the teen's mother Sybrina Fulton to speak at symposium about
his legacy and self-defense laws.
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 in a phone interview.
Neither
Mark O'Mara nor Don West - Zimmerman's defense attorneys during the
trial of the Martin case - is currently representing him, said a
spokesman for O'Mara.
A message seeking comment wasn't immediately returned by Zimmerman's brother Robert Zimmerman, Jr.
Scheibe's neighbors said it was frightening to learn that Zimmerman had been living nearby.
"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.
Sarah
Tyler, 26, also lives across the street from the tan stucco house on a
cul-de-sac street of single family homes in Apopka, about 15 miles
northwest of Orlando.
"It's kind of frightening," she said.
Zimmerman,
30, was acquitted in July of all charges in the shooting of Trayvon
Martin. The death of the black teenager, who was unarmed, touched off a
nationwide debate about race and self-defense.
Zimmerman, 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.
He wasn't charged until
44 days after the shooting, leading to protests nationwide from people
who believed he should have been immediately arrested. The case sparked
accusations that Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin, and
demonstrations broke out again after his acquittal. Federal authorities
are now reviewing the case the see if Martin's civil rights were
violated.
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 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 was 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.
