| Meet
Martin Lee Anderson.
Martin decided to take his Grandmothers car for a joy ride one day
after
church, he didn't have her permission...Should this have meant a
sentence
of death?
When
Martin entered the boot
camp in Florida on January 5th, his first encounter was to have his
hair
shaved off and to learn that he would no longer be considered Martin,
he
would from the on be referred to as "Offender Anderson". "Drill
Instructors"
are there as a constant reminder, with yelling, calling names and
degrading
teenagers. These DIs slammed the teenagers against the wall and used
their
thumbs to apply pressure in a painful way, to control the teenagers.
The
camp was run with fear, pain and exercise.
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Born January 15,
1991, Martin died on January 6, 2006, as a result of an unlikely form
of
child abuse. For his crime, Martin was sentenced to spend time at a
juvenile
detention center which was run much like a boot camp,
in
Panama City, Florida.
According
to a witness, Aaron
Swartz, another teenager at the camp, during a routine exercise of
running
16 laps, doing sit ups and push ups, Martin began to stagger and then
fell.
Charles Steven Enfinger, who is employed at the camp and has been said
to be one of the most violent employees there, went to Martin and
allegedly
slammed him up against a wall. Henry
Lincoln
McFadden was next to
approach Martin and to begin screaming in his face.
The
rest of the teenagers
finished their exercise and were told to sit down and keep
their
eyes facing forward.
Aaron turned his glance sideways and could see what was going on, though he could hear
some things, he was not able to hear it all. Aaron heard what is
|
called
radio code and knew it meant that applied what is known as a pressure
point,
to Martin. Aaron never heard any response from Martin. One of the men
watching
over the teenagers who were sitting down laughed and stated "Offender
Anderson's
going to have a long day". Aaron witnessed another man, Cpl.
Joseph
Walsh work up a sweat from the struggle. During this incident, which
can
be seen on video, Charles Enfinger struck Martin over and over on his
arm.
The nurse came over and placed a pulse reading on Martin's finger,
Aaron
says he heard it beeping quickly.
The tone
of the drill instructor
FINALLY
went from anger to concern and he said "Get the red bag" which had
ammonia
sticks used to revive the teenagers in order to make them continue with
the routine exercises. According to a DDJ official, using ammonia to
revive
the teenagers in a non- medical way, is against their policy. The
ammonia
failed to revived Martin and an ambulance was called to the scene.
Fifteen
hours later, Martin
was pronounced dead. The mental health counselor, Ms Miki told the
other
teenagers it there was a medical reason for Martin's death, using the
excuse
that athletes die every day caused by medical reasons.
"I
don't think that's
true at all. Even if it was medical, when he passed out, if they would
have set him down and then gave him medical help right then, I think
they
could have saved his life and everything. But instead, they did all
pressure
pointing, slammed him, beating up on him and everything. They killed
that
boy. They didn't help him. They beat him. The stuff they did to him,
they
do to everybody everyday. I've never seen somebody get pressure pointed
that many times at once, but it's pretty much like that everyday"
Aaron
Swartz
.
.
In the
beginning, even after the
tape was reviewed and it was shown that Martin was beaten
and it was
obviously the cause
of his death, it was thought that a sickle cell problem had
caused
Martin's death. The first autopsy report said that Martin had died due
to complications from a sickle cell trait and that no signs of death
causing
trauma or injury had been found.
Florida
law says that a body
has to be examined in the district where the person died or where the
body
was found, so a second autopsy was performed. At the request of
Martin's
family, Michael Baden who is the New York State Police Coroner, was
there
for the second autopsy. After 12 hours, Michael Baden confirmed what
had
been known all along, Martin had NOT died of complications of sickle
cell
or of natural causes. On May 6, 2006, the REAL cause of Martin's death
was revealed. Michael Baden said that the cause of Martin's death was
asphyxiation
on ammonia fumes which was inhaled while guards held Martin's mouth
closed
and put them under his nose. The fumes from the ammonia caused a
constriction
in Martin's airway and this lead to asphyxiation and suffocation.
"The
truth is out, we
all knew how Martin passed away so I am relieved and
happy
today. It's a
beginning. Justice needs to be served."
Gina
Jones
.
.
Martin's
parents were satisfied
with the second autopsy report, though members of the Florida Black
Legislative
Caucus were angry that no arrests had been made.
"If
the guards caused
his death, then they need to be arrested
immediately,
we can't
accept that."
State
Senator Frederica
A. Wilson
FDLE
Commissioner, Guy Tunnell
who was the former Sheriff of Bay County was the one who opened the
boot
camp where Martin died. He sent e-mails to the current Sheriff, Frank
McKeithen
with his plans for
his efforts to make sure no one saw the video tape of Martin being
beaten.
His efforts proved to be pointless, the tape was released and viewed
and
show what had happened to Martin. In April of 2006, Guy Tunnell
resigned.
On July
12, 2006 Robert Anderson
and Gina Jones filed a $40 million dollar wrongful death
lawsuit
against the Department
Of Juvenile Justice and the Bay County Sheriffs Office. Claiming that
Martin's
civil rights had been violated by both defendants, they also said they
had conspired to cover facts about the case. An offer was made by the
women
to settle for $3 million dollars and that offer was turned down by
McKeithen
who claimed that the settlement premature since the investigation was
not
yet complete. Unfortunately, if the case is won, the state has a damage
cap of $200,000. Martin's life was worth much more than that. Attorney
General Charlie Crist has said that the settlement of $3 million
dollars
would not be enough.
U.S.
District Judge Robert
Hinkle set a trial date of April 16, 2007, at the same time he ruled
and
dismissed the civil rights and conspiracy charges against the
Department
of Juvenile Justice and the Bay County Sheriff's Office...they would
not
be held responsible for punitive damages.
On
November 28, 2006 seven
guards and the nurse who took no action during the beating, were
arrested
and charged with aggravated manslaughter. Their arraignment will be
held
on January 18, 2007.
"Today
is a good day
for me. I'm finally getting justice for my baby,''
Gina
Jones
.
.
At the time
of Martin's death
approximately 130 youths were incarcerated in state run boot
camps. In
February, Frank
McKeithen decided to end his contract with the state to operate the
boot camp.
In a letter to
the head of the Department Of Juvenile Justice, Anthony J. Schembri, He
said "I believe the integrity of the boot camp in Bay County has been
compromised,
leaving the effectiveness of this program virtually paralyzed." I have
to wonder if he thinks someone who was murdered by the drill
instructors
and a nurse is responsible, or the murderers themselves. He did have
the
decency to ban ammonia capsules at the Panama City boot camp. In my own
opinion, this is not enough and not fast enough. At this same time the
DJJ made some changes and has ordered that punishments such as kicking,
punching and wall slamming are no longer allowed. Nurses have been
instructed
to call 911 at the first sign of trouble. Again, not enough and not
soon
enough. At least it won't happen to any other teenagers, or at least we
can hope.
In April
2006 the Florida legislature
voted to close the five boot camps in the state. A different, less
military
related program which does not allow physical punishment against the
juveniles
took it's place. The new facility is called STAR. The bill that enacted
the STAR program was renamed the "Martin Lee Anderson Act" by the
legislature
and was signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush on June 1, 2006.
UPDATE:
SHOCKINGLY,
the headlines
on October 12, 2007 read:
"Jury
Acquits Eight in Boot
Camp Death"
What kind
of people does it
take to set eight people free, who obviously played a very real part in
the death of a teenage boy?
Coming
out of the courtroom,
Gina Jones, Martins' mother who was visibly upset said....
"I cannot
see my son no more. Everybody see their family members. It's
wrong,".
Benjamin
Crump, the family
attorney talked to reporters and said...
"You
kill a dog, you
go to jail. You kill a little black boy and nothing happens."
The jury
took ONLY 90 minutes
to decide if the eight people responsible for the death of Martin
Anderson
would spend up to 30 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter of a
child.
Among the charges they COULD have found them guilty of were child abuse
and culpable negligence. This jury chose, instead, to let them all go
free.
Clearly the least of what they should have found them guilty of, was
child
abuse. It is NOT acceptable to hit or kick a child. If any parent did
this
in their home, they would be charged with child abuse and the child
could
be taken away from them.
Prosecutor
Scott Harmon
had this to say:
"You
may not hear anything
coming out of that video sound-wise, but that video is
screaming
to you in
a loud, clear voice, it is telling you that these defendants
killed
Martin
Lee Anderson,"
On March
27, 2007, Martin Anderson's
family was awarded 2.43 million dollars in a wrongful death suit. On
May
2, 2007 The legislature passed a claims bill to pay Martin Anderson's
family
$5 million dollars. On May 23, 2007 Governer Charlie Crist signed the
$5
million dollar claim bill for Martin Anderson's family. Is there any
amount
of money that is going to make up for the death of this child, is there
any amount of money that is going to lesson the pain his family is
going
through and now the slap in the face that the jury has given them by
finding
these people not guilty? Is there any amount of money that will bring
them
back their son?
If it
were one of their children
of the people responsible for the death of Martin Anderson, or one of
the
children of the any jury member, they would probably feel different.
Shame
on them all for allowing this happen with no punishment to those who
did
it.
Links to
other sites about
Martin Lee Anderson
Martin
Lee Anderson
Justice
For Martin
A
Life Cut Short
For
information about preventing
child abuse in the state of Florida, click the links below. If they
can't
help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up looking for
help
for an abused child!
Department
Of Children And Families
 ...
Call this
number to report
child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
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