Trayvon's Friend Recalls Him Saying, 'Get Off, Get Off'

One of the prosecution's key witnesses in the George Zimmerman murder trial began her testimony today and recounted how she spoke with Trayvon Martin by phone as he tried to evade the man he described as a "creepy ass cracker" who had begun following him. At one point, when he was near the house of his father's girlfriend, Trayvon apparently thought he had eluded Zimmerman. Rachel Jeantel said she told him to keep running, but "he said, nah, he'd just walk faster." Then Jeantel heard Travyon curse, and he told her that his follower was behind him, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Jeantel, 19, recounted an exchange between the two, with Trayvon demanding to know why Zimmerman was following him and the "hard-breathing" Zimmerman demanding to know what Trayvon was doing in the neighborhood. Then she heard a struggle, with Trayvon shouting, "Get off, get off!" as the phone went dead, reports the AP. Jeantel will be back on the stand tomorrow to wrap up her testimony—much to her displeasure. The Sentinel notes that when defense attorney Don West informed the judge that he had two hours of questioning left, she exclaimed, "What?" In his questioning, West tried to dent Jeantel's credibility. Though 18 at the time of the killing, she admitted that she lied and said she was a minor because she hoped it would keep her out of the case, reports the Huffington Post. (More Trayvon Martin stories.)