George Zimmerman’s truck rescue efforts last week came as no surprise to at least one person: his criminal defense lawyer Mark O’Mara.
According to ABC News , Zimmerman — who otherwise has been in hiding for his personal safety — came to the aid of family who were trapped inside an SUV that had flipped over in his hometown of Sanford, Fla. He apparent helped extricate at least one of the passengers in the overturned vehicle.
Zimmerman is the Hispanic neighborhood watchman who was found not guilty of second degree murder and manslaughter in the Trayvon Martin shooting.
With regard to the truck rescue incident, Attorney O’Mara told CNN anchor Chris Cuomo (see embed above) that “This is quintessential George…. always involved in the community, always willing to lend a helping hand. And here we go, four days after the event, something that I could not have planned but turned out to be just pure George.”
Mara said he’s talked with Zimmerman recently but his client never mentioned this incident. “To him, this is who he is, and who he’s always been, so it’s not unusual I guess for him.” O’Mara added that he was surprised that Zimmerman was out and about in public just four days after the acquittal given the outrage over the the high-profile verdict but not that he was assisting at the accident scene.
When Cuomo asked if Zimmerman is safe in Sanford, O’Mara noted that “[Zimmerman] was sort of surprised….at the blowback to the verdict. He thought that finally America had gotten a chance to hear all of the facts about the case, and to hear the whole trial, and that they would understand what really happened that night, and that it was truly self-defense. And to hear a lot of the anger that has come since the verdict has surprised him, so he has taken some time away to relax and stay out of the public eye.”
The attorney acknowledged that there has been an increase in threats against Zimmerman since the acquittal in a Seminole County courtroom a week ago Saturday night.