NAACP: Details kept from doctors
By Melissa Nelson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PENSACOLA - Citing a report from the medical examiner for Escambia County, state NAACP leaders said Wednesday that Bay County juvenile boot camp officials withheld crucial details about Martin Lee Anderson's encounter with guards from doctors who struggled to save his life.
The medical legal investigation report states that the 14-year-old was exercising for about 15 minutes and passed out after telling guards ''I can't do it anymore.''
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But the report does not mention that Martin was hit, kicked or dragged around an exercise yard during a 30-minute videotaped encounter with guards before an ambulance was called.
''The family continues to suffer as they sit back and look at this horror that is just evolving out of this whole thing,'' said Dale Landry, criminal- and juvenile-justice chairman for the Florida NAACP.
Waylon Graham, an attorney for Lt. Charles Helms, the officer who was second in command of the boot camp, said he thinks the report shows the hospital where Martin died is trying to protect itself from a lawsuit.
''I take it with a grain of salt. It's like a cat covering up manure. Everyone is panicking because they are afraid of a civil lawsuit,'' he said.
Helms was present when Martin was transported from the boot camp to the Bay County Medical Center in Panama City and later at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where he was pronounced dead.
Graham said Helms drove from Panama City to Pensacola because he was concerned about Martin and spoke with doctors at both hospitals.
''I know Charlie wanted him to get the best medical care possible,'' Graham said. ''There is no secret here at all. There is no motive for any of these guys to lie about anything because they know everything is being videotaped,'' he said.
Mike Burke, a spokesman for Pensacola's Sacred Heart Hospital, declined comment on the case citing patient confidentiality issues.
Ruth Sasser, a spokeswoman for the Bay County Sheriff's Office, said she had not seen the report and was not aware of its contents.
''Obviously they lied to medical personnel that could have saved Martin's life,'' said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Martin's family.
Crump said all medical records he has reviewed indicate doctors in Panama City and Pensacola were not told about Martin's encounter with the guards.
''I don't know why the doctors would have a reason to lie. This suggests there was a cover up from day one,'' he said.
The Pensacola report was reviewed and signed by Dr. Frederick Hobin, associate medical examiner for Escambia County, and Dr. Charles Siebert the Medical Examiner for Bay County. It was based on statements a doctor at the Pensacola hospital's intensive care unit.
The report also states that guards at the Panama City juvenile boot camp tried to revive Martin with ammonia capsules, but he collapsed again shortly after.
Bay County officials have said they requested Martin's body be sent to Panama City for an autopsy even though he died in Pensacola because the investigation of his death would be done by Bay County officials.
Siebert later ruled that Martin died of sickle cell trait, a common but rarely deadly blood disorder. A nationally known pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, said after observing a second autopsy that Martin likely was suffocated during the confrontation at the camp. Results of the second autopsy haven't been completed.
The case has since been transferred to a special prosecutor based in Tampa after the state attorney for Bay County asked to be removed citing his close ties with local law enforcement.
In a news release issued Wednesday, Florida NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze issued a call for Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend Siebert, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell pending an independent investigation by Attorney General Charlie Christ.
The release said McKeithen should be suspended because of a failure by the Bay County Sheriff's Office ''to provide correct information to medical authorities at Bay Medical Center at Pensacola Sacred Heart Hospital that may have deprived Martin Anderson of appropriate medical care.''
The civil-rights organization has called for Tunnell's suspension because of e-mails exchanged between Tunnell and McKeithen.
In the e-mails, Tunnell criticized those who questioned the effectiveness of boot camps. Tunnell started Bay County's boot camp when he was sheriff and is a close friend of McKeithen.
Tunnell also forwarded McKeithen an e-mail detailing the agency's effort to withhold the video showing the guards' hitting Martin.
ON THE WEB
''Fifty years ago, the NAACP along with our sister civil-rights organizations stood against similar abuses of power and cover ups by law enforcement during the lynchings and bombings of those early days,'' Obi Nweze said. ''Today it is our youth and children dying behind the walls of state-run facilities.''Go to
http://www.Tallahassee.com to watch video of the incident and participate in our forum.
Originally published March 30, 2006
