A man with a mohawk bearing the name "Trayvon" in downtown Miami, April 1, 2012. (AP)
George Zimmerman's Sanford, Fla., neighbor, said the neighborhood watchman protected his residence from a potential burglary several weeks before the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
Frank Taaffe, a former neighborhood watch captain, told CNN's "Starting Point" that his house was in the process of being robbed on Feb. 2, but Zimmerman called Sanford police, who thwarted the robbery.
"My house was being robbed, and George on his nightly rounds watched this burglary in progress, called Sanford P.D., waited for them, and helped ensure that nothing bad happened to my house," Taaffe said. "And it's documented in the 911 call for February 2. That was my residence that George Zimmerman helped stop." Zimmerman shot and killed Martin on Feb. 26.
"Neighbor-hood, that's a great word," Taaffe said.
Taaffe said that "young black males" were the perpetrators in the attempted robbery of his home. "We had eight burglaries in our neighborhood all perpetrated by young black males in the 15 months prior to Trayvon being shot," Taaffe said. "It would have been nine."
Taaffe denied that he told the New York Times that burglaries were done by "Trayvon-like dudes with their pants down."
"I never said that," he said. "I never used that term."
But on CNN, Taaffe followed up the denial of an incendiary comment with another one.
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