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George Zimmerman told police his wife ‘smacked’ him with an iPad

George Zimmerman, left, arrives in court in June with his wife, Shellie, in Sanford, Fla. Shellie Zimmerman called police on Monday, saying her husband had threatened her and her father.
(Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel)
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No wonder investigators are so interested in that iPad: George Zimmerman told police his estranged wife used the device to hit him during their domestic spat. Shellie Zimmerman was recording their fight with the device.

Lake Mary, Fla., police released more records Wednesday on the confrontation that occurred at the pair’s home earlier in the week. Shellie Zimmerman had returned to gather some things as she prepared to divorce her husband. When George Zimmerman returned, they began to argue and record each other.

The police reports detail what has previously been reported -- that Shellie Zimmerman initially phoned police saying George Zimmerman was threatening her and her father, that she accused her husband of hitting her father, that he smashed and slashed her iPad.

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It’s now a little clearer why police have said either Zimmerman might be charged with domestic battery.

When police arrived, George Zimmerman told officers that Shellie Zimmerman’s father, David Dean, had thrown down his glasses and charged at him to get into a fight, and at some point during the confrontation, Shellie “smacked him several times on his back with the iPad.”

That’s when Zimmerman took the iPad and smashed it over his knee, he told police.

Although it’s undisputed that George Zimmerman destroyed the iPad, officials have pointed out that it was jointly owned, and you can’t charge someone for destroying his or her own property.

Since no one involved with the tiff wanted to press charges, unless officials can resurrect the remains of the device to see exactly what the device recorded -- and, perhaps, how it was used -- they don’t have enough evidence to charge anybody with anything.

According to the police records, which are partially redacted, it appears that investigating officers asked Shellie Zimmerman whether she had hit her husband with the iPad, and she denied doing so.

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