George Zimmerman: Violent Past and Future

From the Associated Press

George Zimmerman was arrested in Seminole County, Fla., at about 1:30 p.m. Monday and charged with assault, after a dispute at his girlfriend’s home, the Associated Press reports. The arrest occurred shortly after a domestic disturbance involving Zimmerman’s girlfriend. […]TMZ reports that the girlfriend says she is pregnant. 

George Zimmerman was charged Monday with assault after deputies were called to the home where he lived with his girlfriend, who claimed he pointed a shotgun at her during an argument, authorities said. Zimmerman pushed the woman out of the house and barricaded the door with furniture, Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a news conference hours after the arrest. The girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, provided deputies with a key to the home and they were able to push the door that had been barricaded. Lemma says Zimmerman was compliant when deputies came to the house.

“The easiest way to describe it is rather passive. He’s had the opportunity to encounter this before,” he said. Zimmerman was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, battery and criminal mischief.

“Just when you thought you heard the last of George Zimmerman,” said neighbor Catherine Cantrell.(. . .)

Zimmerman has had other brushes with the law since his acquittal (in the Trayvon Martin case). 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.

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