Even when he’s supposedly trying to be anonymous, George Zimmerman can’t stay out of the news. This time he was pulled over on a Texas highway over the weekend for speeding, then he alerted the officer that he had a gun in his glove compartment.
Zimmerman was stopped at 12:47 p.m. on Sunday afternoon on Highway 80 by a police officer in Forney, Texas, two weeks after his controversial acquittal for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
The officer, who can be overheard on the dash cam video, asked him, “Where you headed?”
Zimmerman responded, “Nowhere in particular.”
Zimmerman then asked the officer if he noticed the name of the driver’s license.
The officer responded, “What a coincidence.”
The officer tells Zimmerman that he can shut the glove compartment that was holding the firearm.
After the officer checked to see if Zimmerman had any outstanding warrants, he was let go without getting a speeding ticket.
Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s defense lawyer, told ABC News he is apparently on a road trip and that he recently notified his team that he would be spending time away.
O’Mara said his client is taking time off but asked “that people respect his privacy.”
On Twitter, his brother Robert Zimmerman wrote, “heavy foot…nothing more.”
His legal team also said on Twitter, “For his safety, we won’t make any comments about Zimmerman’s whereabouts, and we will work to protect his privacy.”
His lawyers have said Zimmerman has been the target of death threats even before his acquittal. Zimmerman’s concealed carry permit in Florida was re-instated after the trial, making him legally entitled to transport and possess a weapon in Texas and most states. According to dash cam pictures, Zimmerman appeared to be in the same Honda pickup used the night he spotted Martin.
After his acquittal, O’Mara said of Zimmerman arming himself that he “needs it now more than ever.”
“There are a lot of people out there who actually hate him, though they shouldn’t,” said O’Mara.
The gun he used in the Martin shooting was not returned to him after the trial because it was turned over to federal investigators for their own probe into the killing.
On July 18, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office reported that Zimmerman was one of two men who came to the aid of a family trapped inside their Ford Explorer after it rolled over on the side of the highway.
