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Mar
14, 2006 5:20 pm US/Pacific
Autopsy: Boot Camp
Beating Killed Teen
(CBS)
TAMPA, Fla. A second autopsy indicates
that a 14-year-old boy who was punched and kicked by guards at a
juvenile boot camp may not have died of natural causes as a medical
examiner initially ruled, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Martin Lee Anderson was sent to the Bay County Sheriff's Office boot
camp on Jan. 5 for a probation violation. A surveillance video
showed guards kicking and punching him after he collapsed while
exercising on his first day at the camp, and he died at a hospital
early the next day.
The security video shows as many as nine guards kneeing, hitting and
dragging Anderson around the exercise yard. The sheriff's office has
said the guards were trying to get Anderson to participate after he
became uncooperative.
The county sheriff's office, which runs the camp, said Anderson was
restrained after he became uncooperative. But the camp also admitted
that mistakes were made, CBS News correspondent Jim Acosta reports.
After seeing the videotape, the boy's parents agreed to have his
body exhumed. They asked Baden, Dr. Michael Baden, a noted
pathologist who had reviewed medical evidence in the slaying of
civil rights leaders Medgar Evers and the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr., to observe the new autopsy.
The Bay County medical examiner initially concluded the teenager
died from complications of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood
disorder.
The new autopsy was conducted Monday by Hillsborough County Medical
Examiner Vernard Adams. Baden said it was clear the teen did not die
from sickle cell trait, or from any other natural causes.
"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the
videotape," said Baden, referring to the surveillance video.
Baden said it will be several weeks before Adams can determine the
exact cause of death because tissue samples must be analyzed and
other evidence considered.
Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark
Ober, confirmed Baden's assertion but would not elaborate, saying it
will be months before the investigation is complete. Ober was
appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to investigate the case.
Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, said she was glad the truth was out.
"But I already knew what the truth was. Now the truth is out, and I
want justice," she said.
No guards have been arrested or fired but the camp has been closed.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee and the Justice
Department's Civil Rights Division also have opened investigations.
Dr. Charles Siebert, who made that initial ruling after Anderson's
death Jan. 6, was present at the second autopsy and may end up
changing his ruling, Baden said Tuesday.
"I think he made a mistake," Baden said.
Siebert did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Ober has declined to discuss the investigation. No guards had been
arrested or fired by Tuesday, but the camp, operated by the Bay
County Sheriff's Office, has been closed. The U.S. Attorney's office
in Tallahassee and the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights
Division also have opened an investigation into Anderson's death.
Civil rights leaders who rallied to support Anderson's parents said
they hoped the case would lead to reforms.
"He was a microcosm of many young Andersons sitting in boot camps
and detention centers across the state of Florida," said Sevell C.
Brown, state president of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
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