The man who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in Florida sued NBC yesterday, claiming he was defamed when the network edited his 911 call to police to make it sound as if he was racist.
George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood-watch volunteer killed Trayvon Martin, 17, in February.
In the call, Zimmerman, 28, described following Martin in the gated community where Zimmerman lived, moments before he fatally shot the teen.
The call viewers heard was edited to suggest that Zimmerman volunteered to police, with no prompting, that Martin was black: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”
But the portion of the tape that was deleted had the 911 dispatcher asking if the person who had raised his suspicion was “black, white or Hispanic.”
NBC spokeswoman Kathy Kelly-Brown said the network strongly disagreed with the accusations.
Zimmerman is seeking an undisclosed amount of money.