Friday, February 17, 2006

Teen dies in Florida boot camp.

Florida authorities released a videotape Friday showing officers at a state-run juvenile boot camp striking and restraining a teenager, who collapsed.

Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died hours later and his family is blaming the state. They claim Anderson was choked, kicked and beaten by boot camp staffers.

"Martin didn't even have a chance," said the boy's mother, Gina Jones. "They picked on him so much, 'til they murdered my baby.

I watched this tape and I can't believe what I am seeing. This is a 14 year old boy! In the tape this child is surrounded by nine or ten large men dressed in uniform. They are manhandling him, twisting his arms, and striking him in the wrist and torso! There is a nurse in the video who was obviously scraped from the bottom of the nursing barrel. She lacks any compassion whatsoever.

I work with troubled teens all of the time. Some of these kids are physically aggressive and very unpredictable. I have never struck one of these kids! Never!

We are trained to use physical management as a last resort and that never involves any hitting or choking techniques! Our concern is always for the childs safety first! The adults in this tape are clearly not trained to deal with teenagers with behavioral problems! They should close that place down immediately!

And the mother of that child has every right to sue that facility within an inch of its life and then demand that it close its doors forever!

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