Experts Say Trayvon Martin Lived Minutes After Shooting

Aug. 18--George Zimmerman may have shot Trayvon Martin in the heart, but that didn't kill him instantly.

The 17-year-old survived for several minutes, according to two experts who reviewed Trayvon's autopsy for the Orlando Sentinel.

"You're talking about minutes, at least, for him to survive," said Dr. William Anderson, a forensic specialist and former deputy medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties. "I think he would have been conscious ... for a little time, anyway."

What killed the Miami Gardens teenager was massive internal bleeding, said Anderson and Dr. William L. Manion, a board-certified anatomical, clinical and forensic pathologist and lawyer in Mount Holly, N.J.

At 7:17 p.m. on Feb. 26, the bullet that killed Trayvon entered his chest square-on, just to the left of his breastbone, according to his autopsy. It punched a hole in his right ventricle, the lower right chamber of the heart, and broke into three pieces.

The bullet's lead core -- the bulkiest part -- was found just behind his heart, still inside the pericardium, the sac that contains that organ. Two other fragments were found next to his right lung, which had been perforated and collapsed, the report said.

When Sanford firefighters arrived 10 minutes later, at 7:27 p.m., firefighter Stacey Livingston checked him over.

During an interview March 24 with agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Livingston said: "He had a small bullet hole in his chest area that wasn't even bleeding,"

Not on the outside.

Inside, however, his chest cavity had filled with 2,300 milliliters of blood, according to the autopsy. That's about one-third of a healthy person's total blood volume, Anderson said.

Trayvon's heart had kept pumping, both pathologists said, but with each contraction, blood was leaking or gushing into his chest, depending on the size of the bullet hole.

The two doctors agreed that Trayvon remained conscious for a time. Anderson suggested the teenager may have been conscious for several minutes. Manion estimated it at just 20 to 30 seconds.

"He certainly would have experienced pain," Manion said.

The Miami Gardens teenager would have remained alive for a few minutes, both doctors agreed, as his wounded heart continued to pump.

One piece of evidence that Trayvon did not die instantly, both doctors said, was the color of his fingernails.

Shiping Bao, the associate medical examiner in Volusia County who performed the autopsy, wrote that Trayvon had "cyanotic nail beds." That means they had turned blue, something that happens when there's not enough oxygen in the blood.

Because Trayvon's heart was weakened by blood loss and dropping blood pressure, it could no longer pump blood to his lungs. That means vital organs, including the heart, were no longer receiving the oxygen-rich blood they needed.

His heart eventually went into defibrillation, Manion said. That means the muscle fibers within it continued to contract but no longer in the regular rhythm needed to sustain life.

A few minutes after that, the last signs that a heart could be revived -- electrical signals -- would have ceased as well, Anderson said.

Resuscitation attempts

According to Sanford police, officers arrived less than a minute after Zimmerman shot Trayvon and began administering CPR, although records do not show how quickly that happened.

Sgt. Anthony Raimondo checked for a pulse and breathing but found neither, he wrote in his report.

He told a bystander to get some plastic wrap to cover the bullet hole, and someone handed him a plastic bag, which officers placed over the wound. Officer Ricardo Ayala then began chest compressions and Raimondo began mask-to-mouth resuscitation, according to police reports.

Firefighters arrived 10 minutes after the shooting, according to their incident report. They checked for breathing and a pulse, firefighter Tyler Rochefort later told FDLE agents, but found neither.

Two other firefighters slapped electrodes on Trayvon's body, checking for electrical heart impulses. Their monitor picked up a few electrical pulses, Sanford paramedic Mike Brandy wrote in his report. He watched for an estimated 30 seconds, then pronounced Trayvon dead, he told FDLE agents during an interview March 27.

The official time of death was 7:30 p.m., 13 minutes after the shooting.

Anderson and Manion said there was virtually no chance Trayvon could have survived.

"You can't fix a ruptured ventricle," Manion said. "There's no way to fix it out in the field like that."

Witness accounts

There is other evidence that Trayvon survived for a short time. One witness told authorities that after the shooting Trayvon moved his leg.

Then there is Zimmerman's account. In a re-enactment for Sanford police the following day, the 28-year-old Neighborhood Watch volunteer said Trayvon moved and talked after he was wounded.

"I didn't think I hit him because he sat up and said, 'OK, you got me. You got it. You got me. You got it,' something like that," Zimmerman said.

What else had he said, police Investigator Doris Singleton had asked during an earlier interrogation at police headquarters.

"Ow, ow," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman is free on $1 million bond, awaiting trial on a second-degree-murder charge.

rstutzman@tribune.com or 407-650-6394

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