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Photo via Seminole County Sheriff's Office/Wikimedia Commons

George Zimmerman arrested for aggravated assault in Florida

It's the latest in a string of accusations of violence for the man who killed Trayvon Martin.

 

Kevin Collier

Tech

Posted on Jan 10, 2015   Updated on May 29, 2021, 7:24 pm CDT

George Zimmerman has been arrested for yet another violent crime.

The man who outraged the Internet for shooting and killing black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was arrested on Friday night and charged with aggravated assault and domestic violence, a representative for the Seminole County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Dot. He allegedly threw a wine bottle at a woman.

After posting a $5,000 bond, he left the John E. Polk Correctional Facility at 12:36am Saturday, the representative said.

Zimmerman became one of the Internet’s most polarizing figures in 2012, after he engaged in a fight with, shot, and killed Martin in a sleepy Florida subdivision, an incident for which there were no other witnesses. Zimmerman initially wasn’t charged for Martin’s death, as police didn’t dispute his story of self-defense, but after considerable public and online outrage, the state of Florida charged him with second-degree manslaughter six weeks later. A jury later found him not guilty of all charges.

Since his acquittal, Zimmerman has been accused of numerous other acts and threats of violence. In September 2013, he was detained by police after smashing his then-wife Shellie’s iPad and arguing with her father. Two months later, his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, told police that he pointed a shotgun at her and pushed her, but refused to later cooperate with an investigation, and police dropped the charges. 

In September 2014, Florida police said, Zimmerman threatened to kill a man in a road rage incident, but that man refused to press charges.

Photo courtesy Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, via Slate

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*First Published: Jan 10, 2015, 4:08 pm CST