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Family In Boot Camp Death Gets $5 Million

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By BRENT KALLESTAD, The Associated Press

Published: May 24, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The family of a Panama City teenager who died after being roughed up by juvenile boot camp guards last year will receive $5 million under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Martin Lee Anderson was 14 when he died in January 2006 shortly after being kneed and struck and having ammonia tablets held to his nose at the military-style facility run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office in Panama City.

Crist and the Black Legislative Caucus successfully pushed for the settlement this spring despite the Legislature's general distaste for claims measures.

The state already has paid Anderson's parents $200,000, the most allowed by law without legislative approval. Senate Bill 2968, signed by a somber Crist, pays the remaining $4.8 million.

'What's being done here today is the right thing to do,' Crist said just before inking his name to the document. 'No dollar amount can bring Martin back. It's just.'

Bay County separately settled with Anderson's family earlier this year for $2.4 million.

'It is always tragic when a life is taken too soon,' Crist said. 'But when that life is wrongfully taken at the hands of members of law enforcement, it is horrifying.'

Seven guards and a nurse employed at the camp still face manslaughter charges.

The Legislature abolished the military-style boot camps for juveniles in 2006 in the aftermath of Anderson's death.

Legislators, however, failed this year to approve a $1.25 million compensation measure for Alan Crotzer of St. Petersburg for the 24 years he spent in prison before being cleared by DNA evidence - another claims bill pushed by Crist.

'I support the case, strongly support the case,' Crist said Wednesday. 'It's a case that cries out for justice.'

But the governor said he wasn't sure that it could be included in the upcoming special session on property taxes scheduled for June 12-22.

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