Medical examiner calls Zimmerman's injuries insignificant

SANFORD, Fla., July 2 (UPI) -- A medical examiner Tuesday called George Zimmerman's injuries insignificant on the night he shot Trayvon Martin.

Dr. Valerie Rao, medical examiner for Duval, Clay and Nassau, counties told the Sanford court she reviewed evidence and concluded Zimmerman's injuries were "not life threatening, very insignificant." She added the beating Zimmerman claimed he sustained from Martin prior to the shooting would have resulted in severe damage and bleeding.

She added Zimmerman's head injuries were consistent with a single strike against concrete, but added during cross-examination a number of scenarios, involving additional blows, were possible.

Jurors Tuesday also saw a Fox News television interview in which Zimmerman said he did not pursue Martin, saying, "I meant that I was going in the same direction as him" in explaining why he answered affirmatively when a police dispatcher asked, the night of the incident, if he was following Martin.

The interview was presented as prosecutors continue to offer inconsistencies in Zimmerman's account of the shooting Feb. 26, 2012, the Orlando sentinel reported Tuesday.