Zimmerman told the first version to investigators just hours after the shooting in an interrogation room in Sanford, Fla. The interview was recorded on video and released to the public in recent weeks.
“He ended up on top of me and he just kept punching my face and my head,” Zimmerman said in the interrogation. “I got a little bit of leverage and I started to sit up, and he took my head and slammed it into the concrete.”
The second version came days later when Zimmerman was taken back to the neighborhood by police investigators to reenact the events of that night. It was also recorded on video and recently released.
“He got on top of me somewhere around here and that’s when I started screaming ‘help, help’ as loud as I could. Oh, that’s when he grabbed me — I tried to sit up and that’s when he grabbed me by the head and tried to slam my head down,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman returned to his first version of the story on Wednesday night with Hannity. He said the teen punched him “more than a dozen” times while he was on the ground. Here again is the FOX News transcript:
HANNITY: OK. So after that first hit, what happened next?ZIMMERMAN: He started bashing my head into the concrete sidewalk. I was — as soon as he broke my nose, I was — I started yelling for help. So, I was disoriented. And he started slamming my head into the concrete.
HANNITY: Which is where the lacerations came from?
ZIMMERMAN: Yes, sir.
HANNITY: You said it was like your head was going to explode was a comment that you had given to the police.
ZIMMERMAN: Yes, sir. He continued to punch me in the head.
HANNITY: How many times would you estimate that he punched you?
ZIMMERMAN: Several. More than a dozen.
HANNITY: And hitting you hard.
Zimmerman is free on a $1 million bond. His trial is expected to begin next year.
Nick R. Martin
Nick Martin is an associate editor at TPM in New York City. He came to the site in 2011 as a reporter for TPMMuckraker. Previously, he worked in Arizona, first as a staff reporter for a local newspaper and later as a freelance journalist. He also ran the news blog Heat City. Contact him: nick [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.