Guards suffocated teen, examiner says [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Guards suffocated teen, examiner says
Tampa's medical examiner testified that Martin Lee Anderson died because boot camp guards deprived him of oxygen.
Posted on Sat, Oct. 06, 2007

BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
[e-mail]

PANAMA CITY -- Martin Lee Anderson would be alive today if Bay County Boot Camp guards hadn't repeatedly kept him from breathing, a medical examiner testified Friday in the guards' manslaughter trial.

Tampa's chief medical examiner, Dr. Vernard Adams, told the jury Anderson died of suffocation because the guards held their hands over his mouth while pushing ammonia close to his nose three separate times -- once for a full five minutes.

His findings contradicted the results of the first autopsy performed by Bay County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert, who ruled that Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a normally benign condition.

Adams blamed Anderson's death on the guards, who punched and kicked him for 30 minutes and covered the teen's mouth while using the ammonia -- all of which was captured on videotape.

The teen died Jan. 6, 2006, the day after he was admitted to the Bay County Boot Camp. The seven guards and a boot camp nurse, who watched the entire incident, were charged with manslaughter after Adams released his findings.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/262339.html