EURweb |
NEW AUTOPSY SHOWS FLORIDA TEEN WAS SUFFOCATED: Parents say findings vindicate their relentless quest for the truth.
*The parents of a 14-year-old Florida boy, whose physical handling by guards at a juvenile boot camp made national headlines, expressed relief at a second medical examiner's conclusion that their son died because the sheriff's officials suffocated him.
Gina Jones and Robert Anderson said the new autopsy findings vindicated their campaign for a thorough investigation of their son's death, which an initial autopsy had blamed on a blood disorder.
"All you do bad, the good will come out. And so the truth is out now," Jones said of the new autopsy findings announced Friday as part of an investigation by Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him in February to investigate the death after the teen's family disputed Bay County medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert's findings. Ober asked Dr. Vernard Adams to do a second autopsy. .
"Martin Anderson's death was caused by suffocation due to actions of the guards at the boot camp," Adams wrote in a statement. He 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. The guards had said in an incident report that they used ammonia capsules to keep Anderson conscious.
No arrests have been made in Anderson's death, which sparked protests at the state Capitol, forced lawmakers to ban military-style camps and led to the resignation of the state's top law enforcement officer. The autopsy report draws no conclusions about whether Anderson's death was a homicide or an accident.
