I think everyone agrees it was unwise for Zimmerman to get out of his car, but it wasn't illegal. And there's nothing to indicate Zimmerman ever chased Martin, as has been claimed. In fact the evidence suggests Zimmerman never ventured south of the "T".
What evidence is that? The entire debris field is spread out south of the tee.
Did this graphic get presented in court?
The closest item to the tee was George's car keys. Multiple witnesses testified that George returned towards the tee after the shooting before he was met by one of the neighbors and aprehended by the police. George could have dropped his keys at that point so as not to have anything in his hands that might alert the police when they approach.
Everything else is well south of the tee. George's cell phone, that was in his pocket when he claims he was accosted. George's flashlight, the police say there was nothing wrong with it. The plastic bag from the 7-11 store, why is the plastic bag loose? Trayvon's cell phone, his father says this phone is usually clipped to the hoodie pocket and the headset cord is visible in front of the hoodie in the 7-11 video. The bullet casing. And Trayvon's body.
When George says "**** he's running", George is in his truck and you hear him park the truck, get out , close the door and then you hear wind noise. The dispatcher asks George: "are you following him?" and George responds "yes". Somehow people are able to take from this that George was not chasing after Trayvon.
There is also a bit we don't know the full detals of yet. When George is driving from the clubhouse to the cut-through, is he creeping along right behind Trayvon? Or, did he loose track of Trayvon when he pulled out of the clubhouse parking area to turn onto twin tree lane and Trayvon at that time ran down twin tree lane and into the cut-through. Remember, Rachel says she encouraged Trayvon to run. *This would explain why George doesn't know that trayvon turned south at the tee. He only sees Trayvon from a distance under the streetlight heading into the cut-through. By the time he gets up there, Trayvon is already in the shadows and isn't seen turning south. George would then run straight through the cut-through looking south at the tee but continuing on to Retreat View Circle.
If trayvon hasn't been staying in shape since his football days, a sprint from the mailboxes would have winded him. Rachel also mentions that Trayvon sounds out of breath at this point. Trayvon may be hiding near the tee and would see George running past. He best bet at evasion would be to stay hidden and wait for George to return to his truck.
2 to 3 minutes elapse while George finishes his call with the dispatcher before we get to the altercation that causes Trayvon's phone to hang up. Others have pointed out that this is long enough for Trayvon to have gone home and returned. But Trayvon can't go anywhere. If he starts walking home that "creepy ass cracker" will be able to see him when he crosses the tee headed back to his truck. But if there was time for Trayvon to make that trip, there is time for George to walk to the south corner of Retreat View Circle and Twin Trees Lane, turning at the street sign and following the sidewalk back between the buildings.
If we recall from Rachel's interview, when Trayvon next spots George he says: "now he's behind me". This statement doesn't make sense if George is towards the tee from Trayvon because that is the direction always thought George was. "Now he's behind me" makes sense if Trayvon is turned around watching the tee and George comes up from the south.