Travyon Martin conspiracy theorists get desperate [View all]

[DonViejo]

In their zeal to make the slain teen look like a thug, conservative bloggers push nonexistent police cover-up

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD

As mainstream conservative pundits started defending George Zimmerman and attacking Trayvon Martin, various conspiracy theories have emerged on the fringes, but the latest one catching fire in the right-wing blogosphere is especially odd, considering it claims police covered up information about the slain teen that was reported over a year ago.

A Washington Times Communities contributor wrote yesterday, based on documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by a pseudonymous conservative blogger who goes by “Sundance,” that police engaged in an intentional coverup to conceal reports that Martin was suspected of stealing jewelry, among other crimes. The post has already been picked up by a number of well-read conservative blogs and is currently leading FoxNation, the conservative news network’s aggregation website.

“This is corruption, under the guise of ideology, of the highest order,” the pseudonymous blogger wrote. “The Miami-Dade School Police Department failed Trayvon Martin and as a consequence George Zimmerman. One can only imagine what the outcome would have been, if the M-DSPD had followed the laws as they are written, instead of ignoring law and manipulating/falsifying reports. Indeed a strong argument could be made that Trayvon might be alive today.”

The story goes like this: Martin was once caught graffiting a door at school and when his bag was searched, an officer came across jewelry and a screwdriver, which they described as a potential “burglary tool.” But the jewelry didn’t match descriptions of stolen items, so administrators dropped the matter and instead suspended him for graffiti. At the time, police were carrying out a program aimed at sending fewer kids into the juvenile justice system, since outcomes are rarely good, so they gave Martin a break even though they could have arrested him for vandalism.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/02/travyon_martin_conspiracy_theorists_get_desperate/