Gov. Bush Offers Apology to Parents Over Teen's Death

[Judi Lynn]

Gov. Bush Offers Apology to Parents Over Teen's Death
He rejects criticism that he has done little in the case of Martin Lee Anderson, who died after being beaten by guards at a boot camp.

By Mark Hollis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
April 21, 2006


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An apologetic Gov. Jeb Bush met privately Thursday with the parents of a teen who died after a beating by guards at a Panama City boot camp, and rejected criticism he hasn't done enough to bring justice in a case that has inflamed Florida's black community.

"He offered his condolences and apologized," said the family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, who attended the meeting. "He assured us they were every day calling down to the special prosecutor's office, all the resources of the state of Florida … to get the justice sooner than later."

Student protesters outside the governor's office ended their 34-hour sit-in over the state's treatment of Martin Lee Anderson, 14, and the investigation into his Jan. 6 death.
(snip)

Black legislators and other civil rights activists said Bush had been slow to focus on the Anderson case and could have used his authority more forcefully and persuasively. These critics said that as governor, Bush had often been reticent to embrace the black community's concerns, such as charges that white guards may have mistreated Anderson, who was black, due to his race.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-jebbush21apr21,1,3056350.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

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Autopsy report

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http://www.newsherald.com/bootcamp/video.shtml
Video
( I never saw this video until tonight. That young man was very alone out there. )

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Tape shows teen restrained at boot camp before dying

PANAMA CITY, Florida (AP) -- Authorities released a video tape Friday showing guards restraining a boy at a juvenile detention boot camp just hours before he died.

The parents of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson believe the footage, from a boot camp security camera, will show that guards beat their son to death. They were viewing the 1-hour, 20-minute tape at their lawyer's office in Tallahassee as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement made it public.

Two legislators who have seen the tape said Anderson was brutally beaten and kicked before he died January 6. They described an out-of-control situation, with guards punching and choking Anderson even as he went limp.

Anderson's family alleges he was beaten by guards on his first day at the boot camp. A medical examiner determined this week that the teen died from a blood disorder -- not from any injuries suffered in a beating.

News organizations had sued for the tape to be made public. The FDLE planned to release it when its investigation was complete, but said Friday it changed plans "due to compelling public interest and speculation as to its contents."
(snip)

http://parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=6723

[mrcheerful]

1. Why do you think that most state prisons have a news black out?

Back in the 90's when michigan was building prisons almost daily 3 were closed down because they were built on a toxic dump. The only reason I know about it is a family member was a guard at a few michigan prisons and he was saying how conditions were in prisons he worked at. Its funny because when I asked why nobody was complaining about prison conditions he said why, these people deserve to be treated badly because they were criminals.

He was telling of a guy who had a heart condition, the guy went to the gaurds saying he was having a heart attack, the gaurds called medical who told them to give him an asprin and if he wasn't feeling better by the next morning he could write a request to see a doctor then. Well the guys heart stopped during the night and the prison put down he died of natural conditions. From what family member said, a written medical request can take up to 30 days to be approved and more then likely the guy would have died so it wasn't a big deal.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Here's a shorter clip, around 8 minutes. Clearer picture.

Martin Lee Anderson
1992-2006

http://www.nospank.net/anderson.htm
Video

[flordehinojos]

3. jeb bush and his crocodile tears and false apologies met with the family

of the dead teen what a great prize in exchange for the death of their son that jeb buttstinsky bush should step down from his bushstinking tower to console them and offer them some hypocritical apology. he should be given 1) the best hypocritical bush award along with 2) the best bush performance in recent days.

here is hoping that this family was not taken in by buttstinky bush's crocodile tears, his apology, nor his great performance.

[soup]

5. amen.

and it only took a bit over 3 months

January 5
February
March
April 20

way to go j.e.b.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Benhurst]

6. Maybe Jeb can get the parents

a photo op with Dubya at the White House.

Life is cheap in BushAmerica.

[shenmue]

7. Well, actually...

it's closer to the truth to say Jeb has done very little in his entire life.

[shtinkycat]

8. No special meeting of Congress was called

in the middle of the night to investigate the circumstances of this tragedy (cp Terri Schiavo). Jeb Bush is a repugnant hypocrite, pro-life my a$$. We Floridians have to get behind Jim Davis or Rod Smith in November and refute the republican thugs.

[Voltaire99]

9. The Abu Ghraib mind, again.

Life's cheap to these wretched fascists.

[0007]

13. And its going on all over America these days.

[DrBloodmoney]

10. PNAC doesn't apologize

it will brutally kick and beat anyone or any obstacle on it's mission to global domination.

[mikita]

11. jesus, I hope I don't

have to die a "natural" death like this young man did.

We are a sick, sick, sick, sick, country.

[whatelseisnew]

12. Did the protests have anything to do with his timing?

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_XGR_BOOT_CAMP_PROTEST_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-04-21-16-53-55
...
Bush met for the first time with Crump and Anderson's parents Thursday, a day after about 30 college students began a sit-in at Bush's office to demand he publicly apologize to mother Gina Jones and father Robert Anderson.

Bush met with them for about an hour, even praying with them, they said. Jones said she was finally relieved after meeting with Bush and believed in his promise to do all he could for her son's case. The sit-in ended that afternoon.

Bush said Wednesday that he asked for the meeting before the sit-in and that the only reason he hadn't met with the parents earlier was because they never asked to see him.

Student protester Monique Gillum remained dubious.

"I highly, highly doubt that Gov. Bush would have met with the family had it not been for our sit-in," Gillum said. "Sure, maybe he would have met with them next month or a couple of weeks later, but he did it two days after we were sitting-in in his office."
...