ABC News Posts ‘Enhanced’ Video of Zimmerman
ABC News has posted what they say is an “enhanced” version of the video showing George Zimmerman arriving at the Sanford Police Department, with the headline: George Zimmerman: Enhanced Video Shows Injury on Trayvon Martin Shooter’s Head.
Here’s their report; note that their outright statement that the video “shows injury” is based on one frame of the video, apparently the same frame picked out by the Daily Caller a few days ago. Also note that ABC does not say exactly how they “enhanced” this video, only that it was “re-digitized,” whatever that means.
Is this an injury as ABC now claims, or a reflection from the overhead lights? And why are they only showing one frame of this “enhanced” video to back up their claim? There are many other views of Zimmerman’s head that do not show any apparent injury.
These are reasons to be skeptical. It’s far from settled, and it’s irresponsible for ABC to present the story as if it is settled; it raises the possibility that they’re simply trying to stoke the controversy to keep their ratings up.
The story that Trayvon Martin was smashing Zimmerman’s head into the concrete sidewalk is ludicrous; if that had happened, Zimmerman would have gone to the hospital. All head injuries are potentially serious, and no EMT would simply let Zimmerman walk away without more extensive treatment if that had been the case; there are issues of liability for both the police and the EMTs in cases like that. Since he was examined only briefly before being cleared to leave, any injuries he suffered had to be very minor.
The real bottom line is that one person was left dead on the ground, and it wasn’t Zimmerman.