MIAMI — Newly released police video of a handcuffed George Zimmerman might be important for what it doesn’t show: No obvious cuts, scrapes, blood or bandages. No clearly broken nose. No plainly visible evidence of a life-and-death struggle with Trayvon Martin.
As the furor over race and self-defense raged on Thursday in Florida and across the U.S., Martin’s family and supporters seized on the footage to dispute Zimmerman’s claim that he shot and killed the unarmed black teenager after Martin attacked him.
While cautioning that the video is grainy and far from conclusive, some legal experts agreed it does raise questions about Zimmerman’s story. The video was made about a half-hour after the shooting Feb. 26.
“It could be very significant,” said Daniel Lurvey, a former Miami-Dade County homicide prosecutor. “If I were the prosecutor, it would certainly be Exhibit A that he did not suffer any major injury as a result of a confrontation with Trayvon Martin.”
Zimmerman attorney Craig Sonner said on NBC’s “Today” show that the footage appears to support his client’s story in some respects.
“It’s a very grainy video. … However, if you watch, you’ll see one of the officers, as he’s walking in, looking at something on the back of his head,” Sonner said. “Clearly the report shows he was cleaned up before he was taken in the squad car.”
Zimmerman, a neighborhood-watch volunteer in the town of Sanford, told police he shot 17-year-old Martin after Martin punched him in the nose, knocked him down and slammed his head against a sidewalk.
In the video, there is no obvious wound on Zimmerman’s head or blood on his clothing, and there are no indications of a broken nose — which Zimmerman’s attorney has insisted he suffered. He walks briskly, smoothly and unassisted.
“The explanation he is relying on is that there was a physical altercation,” said Kendall Coffey, former U.S. attorney in Miami. “The intensity of the physical conflict is critical to his self-defense claim.”
Ron Martinelli, founder of a California forensic consulting firm, said Zimmerman was probably cleaned up when he was treated by paramedics at the scene and in many cases there is no significant visual evidence of an injury.
“It really depends on how did the head strike the concrete? Did he get hit straight on in the face?” Martinelli said. “… The video proves absolutely nothing.”
