Boy's 2nd Autopsy a `Search for Truth'

Civil rights workers called for justice as a second autopsy began on Martin Lee Anderson, who died at a Bay County boot camp Jan. 6.

BY PHIL LONG

plong@MiamiHerald.com

TAMPA - Protesters toting signs and chanting demands for ''justice'' showed up outside the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's office Monday as experts began the second autopsy on a 14-year-old who died at a Bay County Sheriff's boot camp in Panama City.

On the other side of the street, civil rights advocates held a news conference calling for answers in the death of Martin Lee Anderson, an incident that has sparked federal and state investigations.

''We're here today because we are searching for truth,'' NAACP Florida Conference President Adora Obi Nweze, of Miami, said during the conference. ``The truth of why Martin Anderson had to die.''

Anderson died Jan. 6 after an encounter with guards at a Panama City boot camp run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office. He collapsed after running laps on a track during his first day of boot camp, where he was sent after joyriding in his grandmother's car.

A videotape of the incident shows Anderson being punched, kneed and choked. But a medical examiner in the Panhandle ruled that the youth died from complications from sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder that affects people of African descent.

Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to decide whether anyone should be charged with a crime.

Anderson's body was exhumed Friday from a cemetery near Panama City and taken to Tampa for an autopsy by Dr. Vernard Adams.

Five pathologists, four attorneys and three investigators spent most of the day in the autopsy room, Ober said late Monday.

Miami Herald writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.

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