Sanford's City Manager posts open letter on municipal website:

[X_Digger]

36. Actually, the cops are *always* prohibited from arresting you without probable cause.

Last edited Fri Mar 23, 2012, 10:26 PM - Edit history (2)

That's due to the fourth amendment (and fourteenth).

Here's the section of law in question..

http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/776.032.html
[div class='excerpt'](1) A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(14), who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer. As used in this subsection, the term "criminal prosecution" includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.

The only thing new in that section is the civil action immunity.

The rest is generally accepted protections we all enjoy, regardless of 'SYG'.

But in this case, Zimmerman doesn't get the protection of the defense set out in this law, since he is the aggressor.

The racist PD is conveniently overlooking this. Thank goodness the DoJ is looking into this. The department has a long history of looking the other way when the victim isn't white.

eta: fixed my flub on 4th v 5th and added link. Thanks MD20