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| Trayvon Martin was killed Feb. 26 at the Retreat at Twin Lakes. The initial investigation into his death was dogged by problems |
By SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Published: May 16, 2012
SANFORD, Fla. — The killing of Trayvon Martin here two and a half months ago has been cast as the latest test of race relations and equal justice in America. But it was also a test of a small city police department that does not even have a homicide unit and typically deals with three or four murder cases a year.
An examination of the Sanford Police Department’s handling of the case
shows a series of missteps — including sloppy work — and circumstances
beyond its control that impeded the investigation and may make it harder
to pursue a case that is already difficult enough.
The national furor has subsided for the moment. But as the second-degree murder case against the defendant, George Zimmerman,
moves from the glare of a public spectacle to the grinding procedures
of the court system and eventual trial, the department’s performance,
roundly criticized by Mr. Martin’s family as bungling and biased, will
be scrutinized once again, though in more meticulous detail.
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