Body of Teen Who Died at Boot Camp Exhumed
By MELISSA NELSON
The Associated Press
Friday, March 10, 2006; 10:05 PM
PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- The body of a boy who died
after a videotaped beating by guards at a juvenile boot camp was
exhumed Friday for a second autopsy, his mother weeping as his
coffin was raised.
The body of Martin Lee Anderson was to be taken
to Tampa; Hillsborough County's medical examiner was scheduled to
conduct the autopsy Monday.
 Surveillance
video from the Florida Panhandle camp shows guards punching and
kicking the 14-year-old on Jan. 5. He died the next day.
Bay County's medical examiner concluded that he
died of complications of sickle cell trait, but several experts in
the usually benign blood disorder have questioned that finding.
Officials for the Bay County Sheriff's Office,
which ran the camp, said guards restrained Anderson after he became
uncooperative during exercises. Some state legislators have called
for the arrests of guards involved in the beating of the black
teenager.
"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.
"In 2006 we are still fighting for justice and
we have to desecrate the grave of a young boy to accomplish this,"
Wilson said.
Anderson's parents, who have been outspoken
about the case, did not make public comments at the cemetery Friday.
The exhumation was ordered by Hillsborough
County State Attorney Mark A. Ober, whom Gov. Jeb Bush appointed to
investigate the death. Speaking to reporters Friday in Orlando, Bush
said investigators need time to do their job.
"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," Bush said.
No guards have been arrested or fired, but the
camp has been closed.
Also Friday, The Miami Herald reported that
documents kept by the boot camp show Anderson complained for 40
minutes Jan. 5 that he couldn't breathe before an ambulance took him
to a hospital.
The teen 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 said
guards then hit him in the legs and arms and applied "pressure
points" to his head _ the latter a technique banned by the state
Department of Juvenile Justice in 2004.
Ruth Sasser, a spokeswoman for Bay County
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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