Local News

Tape released showing teen restrained at boot camp

02/17/2006

[Portion of videotape released]

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- Guards at a juvenile detention boot camp kneed and struck a boy who appeared limp while others restrained him, a videotape released Friday showed, sparking outrage from his parents and a call by lawmakers for Gov. Jeb Bush to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his death.

The parents of Martin Lee Anderson believe the tape raises questions about an autopsy by District Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert that said the 14-year-old boy died from internal bleeding caused by a genetic blood disorder and not from any injuries in an altercation with the guards a day earlier.

"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."

The grainy 1 hour, 20 minute tape from a surveillance camera at the juvenile boot camp run by the Bay County Sheriff's office was released Friday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating Anderson's death, after news organizations sued to have it made public.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it is also investigating possible civil rights violations in the case. Lawmakers and the family's lawyers on Friday called for the arrest of the guards who were seen on the videotape confronting Anderson and blasted the autopsy findings.

Bush's press secretary Russell Schweiss said it was premature to consider appointing an independent prosecutor to investigate Anderson's death.

"The investigation by law enforcement hasn't been completed yet," Schweiss said.

Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, and Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, viewed the tape last week. They portrayed the scene as out-of-control, with guards punching and choking Anderson even as he went limp.

"When people see the tape and you say he just died of natural causes, it doesn't add up," Barreiro said. "It doesn't make sense and goes against all the logic of watching what happened to this young man."

Bay County sheriff's officials said guards restrained Anderson after he became uncooperative while doing push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises as part of his physical evaluation hours after being admitted to the camp.

"The viewing of this will result in many questions, concerns and accusations," said Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen.

As many as nine guards can be seen wrestling Anderson to the ground and restraining him. The boy appeared limp throughout most of the ordeal and never appeared to offer significant resistance. While he lay motionless on the ground, he was struck several times by a guard, either on his arm or the side of his torso.

A woman in a white coat with a stethoscope was present while the guards restrained the boy and at one point used it to check on him. Near the end of the confrontation guards appear to become more concerned and several began running in and out of the scene. A few minutes later, emergency medical personnel arrive, put the boy on a gurney and take him away.

In all, the guards appeared to strike him several times, but it's not clear from the tape how hard the blows were or where they landed. The ordeal lasted about 30 minutes.

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.

Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, said Friday that any guard who touched Anderson should be immediately arrested.

"At the very least it's aggravated battery, at the top of the ladder it's murder," Siplin said.

The medical examiner, Dr. Siebert, said Thursday that there were some bruises and abrasions on Anderson, but he attributed them to attempts to resuscitate the youth.

Anderson suffered internal bleeding because he had the sickle cell trait, a disorder that Siebert said produced a "cascade of events" that led to his death Jan. 6, the day after he arrived at the camp. Siebert said one in 12 African Americans has the disorder, but it would not show up in routine blood work.

The Florida Southern Christian Leadership Conference called on the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America to review the autopsy findings to determine if they are correct.

"It is our position that Dr. Siebert's findings have implications beyond the local level. This could have far reaching ramifications of an adverse nature upon those with the sickle cell trait if the coroner's findings are incorrect," said Florida SCLC President Sevell C. Brown III.

The boot camp concept for juveniles began in Florida with nine facilities in 1993, but will soon be whittled to four if the Martin County camp closes as scheduled later this year. About 600 boys between ages 14 and 18 remain in the existing camps.

The boot camp where Anderson was sent is run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office for the state. 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.

Anderson was the third young black male to die in state custody in the past three years.

Willie Lawrence Durden III of Jacksonville was found unconscious in his cell at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Corrections Center in Citrus County last October and Omar Paisley, also 17, died from a burst appendix that went untreated in June 2003 at a juvenile detention facility in Miami.

Bush said he continues to support the boot camp concept.

"I don't believe we should shut down every boot camp because of one tragic accident," he said.

The FDLE had said it would release the tape only after its investigation was complete. The department said Friday that while the investigation is not finished, it released the tape "due to compelling public interest and speculation as to its contents."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)