Posted on 02/18/2006 7:29:54 AM PST by freepatriot32
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Lawmakers and the family of a teenager seen on videotape being kneed and struck by juvenile boot camp guards are calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the guards.
The Bay County Medical Examiner ruled that Martin Lee Anderson died of internal bleeding caused by a genetic blood disorder. But his family said Friday they believe the boy died because of the 30-minute beating that took place hours before the 14-year-old died.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations.
Gov. Jeb Bush said he did not support calls to shut down the state's juvenile boot camps, calling Anderson's death "one tragic incident."
"The coroner has suggested that the death was caused by this child's unique illness ... that ... the force itself did not cause the death," he said.
Still, Bush said he is awaiting a series of recommendations from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice about improving the training and the quality of the camps.
Some lawmakers have called on Bush to appoint an independent prosecutor. A spokesman for Bush said earlier Friday that the governor thought it was too early to consider appointing an independent prosecutor in the case.
"The investigation by law enforcement hasn't been completed yet," he said.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials said they provided their investigative reports to the state attorney's office and to the U.S. Attorney and that their investigation would remain active until decisions are made about criminal charges.
Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, said the conclusion that Anderson died of natural causes "doesn't add up." "It doesn't make sense and goes against all logic of watching what happened to this young man," he said.
Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, called for any guard who touched Anderson to be arrested. "At the very least it's aggravated battery, at the top of the ladder it's murder," Siplin said.
Anderson, who entered the camp Jan. 5 because of a probation violation, complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed while doing push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises. He died after midnight the next day at a Pensacola hospital.
On the grainy, 80-minute tape, which has no sound, as many as nine guards can be seen wrestling Anderson to the ground and restraining him. The boy appeared limp for most of the ordeal and never appeared to offer significant resistance. While he lay motionless on the ground, a guard struck him several times, either on his arm or torso.
At one point, a guard struck him from behind, lifting his feet off the ground. At the beginning, as the guards are pinning him against a pole, they struck him three times with their knees.
It's not clear from the tape how hard the blows were or where they landed.
A woman in a white coat was present while Anderson was restrained and at one point used a stethoscope to check him.
Near the end of the confrontation, guards appear to become more concerned, and several run in and out of the scene. A few minutes later, emergency medical personnel take him away on a gurney.
"Martin didn't deserve this right here _ at all," the boy's mother, Gina Jones, said after viewing the tape Friday at her lawyer's office in Tallahassee. "I couldn't even watch the whole tape. Me as a mom, I knew my baby was in pain and I am in pain just watching his pain."
Anderson was arrested in June for stealing his grandmother's Jeep Cherokee and sent to the boot camp for violating his probation by trespassing at a school.
State police investigating the case released the tape after a lawsuit by news organizations.
The autopsy blamed his internal bleeding on sickle cell disorder, which is present in one in 12 African-Americans but doesn't show up in routine blood work.
There has been research _ some involving recruits at military boot camps _ linking the trait to sudden death after extreme exertion. Experts on sickle cell trait, however, questioned Friday whether the disease could be definitively and entirely to blame for Anderson's death.
"There is a slight, increased risk at the extremes of human endurance, but it really takes a profound amount of exercise and dehydration," said Dr. James Eckman, director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Grady Health System in Atlanta and a professor at Emory University.
Research shows sudden death with heavy exertion typically happens either in extreme heat and humidity or at high altitude. Weather records show the high temperature was 68 the day Anderson passed out.
The boot-camp concept for juveniles began in Florida in 1993, and five camps now house about 600 boys ages 14 to 18.
Gina Jones, left, mother of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, wipes her face as her attorney Ben Crump, right, speaks at a news conference regarding the death of her son, Friday, Feb. 17, 2006, in Tallahassee, Fla. Guards at a juvenile detention boot camp kneed and struck Martin Lee Anderson, who appeared to have gone limp while others restrained him on the day before he died, a videotape released Friday showed. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Smart...really smart.
Send a hemophiliac to boot camp!
Sheesh!
Smart...really smart.
Send a hemophiliac to boot camp!
Sheesh!
--- Before I get flamed, I realize this kid had sickle cell, but they might as well have sent a hemophiliac to boot camp.
He wasn't a hemophiliac. He had the trait for sickle-cell...not the disease itself.
This boy was murdered.
Yep, murdered.
I'm truly sorry that they lost their son. Their pain and their grief must be overwhelmingly unimaginable.
However, let's look at facts. Their son was not sent to this boot camp for being the best behaved kid in school. He was sent there as an intervention method to hopefully re-direct him from a life of crime. I'm not going to point fingers at the moment, but their son might still be alive had he had better supervision.
The internal bleeding attributed to sickle-cell anemia was undiagnosed at the time of his death. All in all, it amounts to a tragic accident - but not a crime on the part of the guards. I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that the beating was not that severe and that those guards were truly trying to help this kid see that he could make different choices in his life that didn't involve criminal activity and the legal system.
Absolutely right!
The tape doe NOT show what the plantif claims.
Prayers for the family.
Lesson to be learned from this whole incident: if you don't want to end up in jail, stay away from a life of crime. It's my proven method for avoiding jail time.
I saw a few minutes of the video. He was beaten quite severely around his torso...from the front, back, and side. He was also taken to the ground HARD. I saw his head hit the ground with an immediate knee to his mid-section.
Well, he violated probation after stealing grandma's jeep. If that's a 'life of crime' I should have been in prison at 14 as well.
Probably a wild kid who's family thought could use some discipline and learn the consequences of his actions early in life. Doesn't warrant a beating death in my opinion.
I agree. If you are robbing a house, and an old lady dies of a heart attack suring the robbyer, you will be prosecuted for it, correct?
Maybe I didn't watch enough of it.
"Doesn't warrant a beating death in my opinion."
Gotta agree with you, and this kid was 14, that is still a child. How old were the people beating him up?
And, let me get this straight, please correct me if I'm wrong, he collapsed and THEN they started to beat him, to revive him or they thought he was goldbricking or whatever? Not very professional I must say.
Murdered! Thats the word and should be the charge. Murder! No manslaughter bulldump, murder.
I saw the video and at least half a dozen adult guards were pummeling on this kid who, from what I could see, was doing nothing, as in unconscious nothing. Even if the kid was playing limp and being unresponsive on purpose, surely they have more refined disciplinary methods than beating the crap out of the kids.
Think closely about that statement...the deceased violated probation after stealing grandma's jeep. Why would a 14-year old be in probation, if he weren't already engaged in a criminal lifestyle? Sorry, but if you're in probation at age 14, you're already in a bad path.
Probably a wild kid who's family thought could use some discipline and learn the consequences of his actions early in life.
Nope, wrong. In Florida (I lived in Panama City 2001-04,) kids get sent to boot camp by the courts, not their family. Boot camp is not meant to be a way for Mommy and Daddy to get Junior under control, it's meant for the justice system to try one last time to re-direct the life of a miscreant. Parents have no say in this. The son of a former co-worker was sent to boot camp...trust me, my co-worker had no say in where his kid went.
Doesn't warrant a beating death in my opinion.
You know, we actually agree on this...however, what did Junior do to get him on the losing end of a beating? The correctional officers I knew in Panama City were, for the most part, very restrained in their dealings with the typical resident at teen boot camp, so something tells me the deceased teenager wasn't quite as "angelic" as his family now tries to portray him...remember, he was in there for violating probation.
Sheesh! 30 minute? If it had been a couple of hits that would be one thing (under the right conditions) but 30 minutes?
If accurate I would come down on the side of the family.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.