Actress Marina Sirtis is among many who are helping to spread the false claim that George Zimmerman spoke with the police, and a police officer advised him to stay in his car. The untruth has taken on new life on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/emilyrose_tcb/status/356493917589487616

https://twitter.com/ChrisJZullo/status/356252132522983425

https://twitter.com/jordansayshey13/status/356241587270983680

There are two untruths in saying that a police officer by phone told Zimmerman to stay in his car. First, the person Zimmerman spoke with on the phone was a 911 dispatcher, not a police officer. Second, the dispatcher never issued any direct orders to Zimmerman. If Sirtis and others spreading this falsehood would have bothered to pay attention to the trial they’re now complaining about, they’d know this:

Noffke explained to the jury that as a 911 dispatcher, he is unable to issue direct orders to callers due to liability issues. He stated that it sounded like Zimmerman was running so he advised him not to follow Martin; however, he did not issue a direct order.

Sirtis claims to have watched the trial:

It’s possible Sirtis was busy going over NCIS scripts at the time and too distracted to give the trial coverage her full attention.