Body of Teen Who Died at Panama City Boot Camp Exhumed
The Associated Press
Posted March 10 2006, 3:32 PM EST
PANAMA CITY -- The body of a teenager who died
after he was punched and kicked by guards at a juvenile boot camp
was exhumed Friday for a second autopsy, his mother weeping as his
coffin was raised from the ground.
The body of Martin Lee Anderson was to be taken
to Tampa, where it is scheduled to be autopsied Monday. Bay County's
medical examiner concluded that Anderson, 14, died Jan. 6 from
complications of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder
many blacks have. His parents and several lawmakers have questioned
that finding as a camp video shows Anderson was beaten by guards.
 ``I
want somebody arrested before next week's end. We need answers and
we need arrests, preferably by the end of today,'' said state Sen.
Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who sat with Anderson's family during the
exhumation and spoke on behalf of the state's black legislators
afterward.
Wilson recalled the exhumations of civil rights
leader Medgar Evers and slain teenager Emmett Till, who died decades
ago, saying that she wouldn't have thought such extreme action would
be necessary in the this case.
``In 2006 we are still fighting for justice and
we have to desecrate the grave of a young boy to accomplish this,''
she said.
Gov. Jeb Bush, speaking to reporters Friday in
Orlando, said investigators need time to do their job. He has
appointed Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark A. Ober to
investigate the death. Ober requested the exhumation. No guards have
been arrested or fired, but the camp has been closed.
``If there is any action that will be taken, it
will be based on (the state attorney's) investigation and if I need
to take action based on that I will. Right now we're waiting for the
state attorney to make his determination,'' Bush said.
``If he says there was criminal wrongdoing and
our office could help expedite any type of action based on that type
of recommendation then we would.''
Anderson entered the camp for a probation
violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were
originally charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a
church parking lot. He collapsed within hours of his arrival.
The NAACP and the family's attorneys have
retained Dr. Michael Baden, who reviewed medical evidence in the
slaying of Evers and Martin Luther King Jr., to review the case.
Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, is widely considered
one of the nation's top experts in forensic pathology. He worked for
a congressional committee that reinvestigated the assassination of
President Kennedy.
Anderson's parents, who have been outspoken
about the case, did not make public comments at the cemetery on
Friday. Benjamin Crump, their Tallahassee-based attorney, said the
family was confident that the second autopsy would have a different
outcome.
``The videotape is very compelling. He was
murdered at that boot camp,'' Crump said.
Florida civil rights leaders plan to gather at
the Hillsborough County Coroner's office in Tampa on Monday for a
protest rally.
In a brief service before Friday's exhumation
local church leaders sang ``We Shall Overcome'' and offered prayers
and scripture readings for the family.
Jerome Roulhac wiped tears from his eyes as he
watched the coffin being lifted from the ground and wrapped in rolls
of protective plastic. Roulhac, who lives in the neighborhood where
Anderson grew up and was buried, said he has faith in the second
autopsy.
``I think it will give (the family) their
answers,'' he said.
Bishop Russell A. Wright of Panama City's Full
Gospel Methodist Church said members of his congregation want to
know why those responsible for Anderson's death have not been
arrested.
``We as a community of faith are all concerned
that they are still working,'' he said.
Also Friday, The Miami Herald reported that
documents kept by the Bay County Sheriff's Office boot camp show
Anderson complained for 40 Minutes Jan. 5 that he couldn't breath
before an ambulance took him to a hospital, where he died the next
day.
Officials of the boot camp operated by the
sheriff's office have said guards were trying to restrain Anderson
after he became uncooperative.
The guards approached the teen after he dropped
to his knees during a physical fitness test complaining he ``was
tired and couldn't breathe good enough to run any more,'' the report
said.
Boot camp officials described in detail the
final hour before Martin was rushed to a hospital, a period when
they applied ``knee strikes'' to Martin's legs, ``hammer strike''
punches to his arms and several ``pressure points'' to his head -- a
technique banned by Department of Juvenile Justice head Anthony
Schembri in 2004.
``This was a mugging couched in euphemisms,''
retired Miami juvenile judge Tom Petersen told the Herald in a story
published Friday.
Ruth Sasser, a spokeswoman for Bay Sheriff
Frank McKeithen, who ran the camp under contract with the state
Department of Juvenile Justice, declined to comment on the report.
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