NO GUARDS INVOLVED ARRESTED
Martin Lee Anderson, the 14-year-old boy whose death last January at a Panama City boot camp sent shock waves through the state's juvenile justice system, was suffocated by guards who held his mouth shut and forced him to inhale a fatal amount of ammonia, a medical examiner said Friday. The conclusion that the guards' actions killed the teen repudiated an earlier autopsy that found Martin had died of natural causes, a ruling that outraged family members and their supporters. ''Martin Anderson's death was caused by suffocation due to the actions of the guards at the boot camp,'' Dr. Vernard Adams, Tampa's chief medical examiner, wrote Friday. Adams performed an autopsy March 13 at the request of special prosecutor Mark Ober, who will decide if criminal charges will be filed in the case. 'The suffocation was caused by manual [blockage] of the mouth, in concert with forced inhalation of ammonia fumes that caused spasm of the vocal cords resulting in internal blockage of the upper airway,'' Adams said. None of the seven or eight guards seen manhandling Martin in a videotape shot by a security camera have been arrested. Adams' conclusion ends a bitter chapter in the tragic case, which began Jan. 5 when a group of guards at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp punched, kneed and choked Martin hours after he arrived on his first day a the facility. The guards took control of the teen after he complained he was unable to continue running laps. Hours later, the youth was dead. The news Friday afternoon rippled through the state Capitol, where the Legislature was wrapping up a contentious session before going home. Before leaving, the Legislature passed the Martin Lee Anderson Act, to shut down the state's four remaining boot camps and replace them with a less militaristic approach. [MORE] and [MORE] and [MORE]
- Video | Boot camp beating (edited version) [MORE]
- Video | Boot camp beating (full unedited version) [MORE]
- COVER UP: Secretary Anthony Schembri told the Miami Herald that he was unaware of 180 use-of-force reports from the Panama City boot camp - including manhandling of teens for shrugging or smiling - and that he could not have done anything if he had known. Just why is he still on the job? [MORE]