Lawyer: Call with slain teen the truth

SANFORD, Fla., March 21 (UPI) -- The 16-year-old girl who was on the phone with a slain Florida teen at the time of his death was too emotional to tell police about the call, a lawyer said.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the family of slain teen Trayvon Marin, told NBC's "Today" Wednesday the girl's version of events can be trusted, even though she didn't initially tell police about the phone conversation.

"She is a 16-year-old teenager who just lost a friend very special to her,'' Crump said. "Her parents are very concerned. They did not want her to get involved, and it wasn't until Mr. Martin found the phone records and saw that she called him at 7:12. The police got on the scene at 7:17, and he was shot and dead on the ground.''

Crump told ABC News Tuesday Martin, a black teenager from Sanford, made a phone call to the girl shortly before he was shot by self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman Feb. 26, which "blows [Zimmerman's self-defense claim] out of the water."

Zimmerman, who said he shot Martin self defense, has not been arrested for the incident. Prosecutors have said a grand jury will investigate and the U.S. Justice Department said the Civil Rights Division and the FBI will investigate the matter as well.

The girl, whose name was not released, told ABC News she was on the phone with Martin during part of his confrontation with Zimmerman.

"He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man," she told ABC News. "I asked Trayvon to run and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run, but he said he was not going to run.

"Trayvon said, 'What are you following me for,' and the man said, 'What are you doing here.' Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the head set just fell. I called him again and he didn't answer the phone."

A crowd estimated at 200 people -- many of them wearing hoodies -- gathered in Miami's Liberty City Wednesday, demanding an arrest in the case, The Miami Herald reported. Similar rallies were held in Sanford and New York, the newspaper said.