Homeless Hot Tub Intruder Calls 911 for Cocoa, Hug

He was 17 hours into a 24-hour shift

(NEWSER) - If you're in a situation where you have to dial 911, the last thing you want to hear on the other side of the phone is snoring. But that's what a Maryland woman heard when she called emergency services to help her husband, reports NBC4 in Washington . In the April incident, the woman called 911 and was transferred to a snoozing dispatcher. She needed an ambulance because her husband couldn't breathe, but all she got was silence. More»

...Which he strangely did not mention while talking to dispatcher

(NEWSER) - There's a new wrinkle in George Zimmerman's version of the night of Trayvon Martin's death. Zimmerman has been telling investigators that while he was on the phone with police, Martin was circling his car menacingly on foot—so menacingly that Zimmerman rolled up his window "to avoid a confrontation," a source tells the Orlando Sentinel . The source says Zimmerman isn't changing his story ; he's said this in every statement to police. More»

Misleading tape put heavy emphasis on race

(NEWSER) - NBC News has fired the producer who edited the George Zimmerman 911 call that aired in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting, reports the New York Times . The producer has not been named, but reportedly was based in Miami and had worked for NBC for several years. Sources say that NBC officials were upset by the misleading edit, which clearly violates the Today Show's policies. More»

Audio expert backs him up on 911 tape

(NEWSER) - Trayvon Martin's killer has told his attorney he said "punks"—not a racist slur—seconds before shooting the black teenager—and an audio expert backs him up, reports CNN . Much has been made of the 911 call gunman George Zimmerman dialed just before the shooting, with many listeners convinced a garbled word on the tape of the call is a racist slur. But forensic audio expert Tom Owen, who used a computer to remove cell phone noise from the tape, is convinced the word Zimmerman used was "punks." The "enhanced" tape, however, played several times by CNN , is still extremely difficult to understand. The word could be key in determining Zimmerman's culpability in the shooting, and an important indication of whether he was motivated by racism or fear. More»

Truncated version left out key gap with police dispatcher

(NEWSER) - NBC has issued a mea culpa for how it edited a phone call between George Zimmerman and a police dispatcher before the killing of Trayvon Martin, reports the Washington Post . In the bit that aired, Zimmerman says this:

• "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black."

• Zimmerman: "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about."
• Dispatcher: "OK, and this guy—is he black, white or Hispanic?"
• Zimmerman: "He looks black."