Miami Herald Watchdog: Hidden truth of youth's death at camp

[seafan]

On Mothers' Day, May 14, 2006


Martin Lee Anderson

Mari Darr-welch / AP



Miami Herald Watchdog: Hidden truth of youth's death at camp

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND MARC CAPUTO
May 14, 2006

snip

Thus began a concerted effort to define Martin's death as a tragic but unforeseeable medical mishap, whether from illness or shoddy medical care.
From the Panama City boot camp to the state Department of Juvenile Justice, officials miscast the circumstances surrounding the youth's demise numerous times in the ensuing days, masking the brutal details of a death that brought national attention, major reforms to Florida's boot camps and the resignation of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's chief, Guy Tunnell, who had founded the boot camp when he was Bay County sheriff.

In those first days immediately after Martin's death, Tunnell's FDLE, which was investigating his former agency, refused to release the videotape of the beating. Meanwhile, some officials cast aspersions on Martin, portraying him as a malingering, belligerent drug user and gang member who provoked guards to use ''force'' to restrain him when he became ``uncooperative.''

The juvenile justice agency even floated a theory to lawmakers and The Miami Herald that Martin bled to death when emergency workers botched a procedure to insert a breathing tube, piercing the youth's windpipe.
The boot camp's narrative of Martin's final conscious hours contrasts sharply with the emerging picture of Martin as a victim of brutality:
Martin was suffocated by guards who held his mouth shut while they jammed ammonia tablets up his nose in an attempt to revive him, according to a new autopsy performed at the request of a special prosecutor, who also threw FDLE off the case after Tunnell sent chummy emails to Bay County's sheriff. No arrests have been made in the case.

snip

The 10 frightened boys who were present in the exercise yard Jan. 5 also were told that Martin died of an illness -- although they had watched in horror as guards punched and kneed the youth and dragged him around.
Aaron Swartz, a Leon County 14-year-old who was admitted to the camp the same day as Martin, said a mental-health worker told the youths that Martin died of ''medical reasons'' and that the actions of guards ''had nothing to do'' with his death.
''She was telling us how athletes die every day, all the time, because of medical reasons. That healthy athletes stop and die, so it's not unusual,'' Aaron told The Miami Herald.

snip

At 1:30 a.m. when Martin was pronounced dead, (Martin's mother, Gina ) Jones said that Lt. Charles Helms was with her and broke down, crying. ''That boy didn't deserve this,'' she recalled him saying. ``He never told me he was one of the first people to put his hands on my baby.''

snip

May Martin rest in peace.

And may Martin's mother Gina find comfort through the many people who are seeking truth and justice for her son.

[derby378]

1. I want voluntary manslaughter charges brought against those guards

Evil pieces of shit. Let 'em stew in jail for 20 years or so.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Can you imagine

what they've done to other kids?

This type of behavior is never just a one time thing.

[Suich]

3. I shudder to think what would have happened

if the video had not come out.

[Monk06]

4. The Vancouver Police Dept disbanded its Swat Team because..

of deaths caused by this type of heavy handedness
on the part of the Police.

It seems, oddly enough, when you resort to military
style policing, discipline and common sense go out
the window.

BTW guess where the VPD were trained in Swat tactics?

You guessed it Daryl Gates LAPD.

[seafan]

5. Students demanding Bay Co. Sheriff fire former captain of boot camp

Student Calls Disrupt the Sheriff

5/16/2006

The Bay County’s Sheriff’s Office was barraged with telephone calls by college students on May 15 in the latest chapter in the Martin Lee Anderson case.

The students were protesting the fact that Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen is refusing to dismiss Capt. Mike Thompson, the former captain of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Boot Camp, even though Gov. Jeb Bush has called for this action.

More than 120 calls came in from an organized effort by students at Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College.

snip

McKeithen responded by issuing the following statement:

“The Bay County Sheriff’s Office does not have time for their foolishness and telephone games. We have more important things to do like protect citizens of the county and answer legitimate phone calls that come in for police service.”

snip

Despicable.

[seafan]

6. State medical examiners end meeting before legislators and students arrive

Questions on boot camp death go unasked

A meeting of the state's medical examiners ends before a group demanding action in the case gets a chance to speak.

By Abbie Vansickle
Published May 24, 2006


TAMPA - Leading black legislators and college students came to Tampa Tuesday, hoping to address the state's medical examiners about two conflicting autopsy results on Martin Lee Anderson, a teen who died after he was roughed up at a boot camp.

But the day didn't go the way the group planned.

Legislators hoped to speak at the quarterly meeting of the state Medical Examiners Commission about the sharply differing autopsy conclusions about what caused Anderson's death.

Instead, the commission wrapped up its meeting before the group arrived, leaving students and legislators frustrated and angry.

"What they did today was very, very wrong," said Gabriel Pendas, Student Senate president at Florida State University. "You should all be mad. I'm mad."

Commission members say the meeting finished before the group arrived, but legislators and students say the day only heightened their concerns that officials don't want to answer questions about the teen's death.

snip