Reply #16: Final autopsy report: Martin Lee Anderson was suffocated. [View All]

[seafan]

Second autopsy examiner: Guards suffocated boy at boot camp

Updated: 3:15 p.m. ET May 5, 2006



Martin Lee Anderson

Mari Darr-welch / AP

TAMPA, Fla. - A 14-year-old boy beaten by guards at a juvenile boot camp died because the guards suffocated him, a medical examiner said Friday.
The findings of the second autopsy on Martin Lee Anderson conflict with the initial ruling from a different medical examiner that the boy died from complications of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder.

“Martin Anderson’s death was caused by suffocation due to actions of the guards at the boot camp,” said Dr. Vernard Adams, who conducted the second autopsy. The boy’s body was exhumed after a camp surveillance videotape surfaced showing the guards beating him the day before he died.

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Adams said the suffocation was caused by hands blocking the boy’s mouth, as well as the “forced inhalation of ammonia fumes” that caused his vocal cords to spasm, blocking his upper airway.

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No one has been arrested in connection with the death, which sparked protests at the state Capitol, forced lawmakers to scrap the military-style camps and led to the resignation of the state’s top law enforcement officer.
Gov. Jeb Bush also ordered an investigation after Anderson’s family questioned the finding by Bay County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert that sickle cell trait was to blame for the boy’s death.