NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - A 13-year-old
cadet at a private military academy died Saturday during an
orientation camping trip, the school’s principal said.
Authorities rushed the child from
Oleta State Park to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead,
North Miami police said.
The cause of death was
undetermined, pending a medical examiner’s report, police said.
No additional information was released.
The boy was one of 33 cadets
attending the Back to Basics Christian Military Academy’s
Training and Leadership Corps campout. The students, in grades
4-10, had been camping since Wednesday, Lynda Browne, the
school’s principal and owner, told the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel for Sunday’s edition.
The boy got out of bed in the
middle of the night to tell a drill sergeant he didn’t feel
well, Browne said. The boy collapsed on the way to the restroom.
'The children get the very
best of care'
Browne said the boy’s mother told her that her son “wasn’t the
most physical, strong or athletic child.”
She said the academy subcontracts
with Fort Lauderdale-based Juvenile Military Training and
Leadership Corp. The camp is run by certified National Guard
drill sergeants.
“The children get the very best
of care,” Browne told the newspaper. “Under no circumstances are
our students brutalized, nor are they maligned verbally. They
are treated with the utmost respect.”
Brown and the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission did not return messages
Saturday from The Associated Press.
In January, a 14-year-old boy
died after a confrontation with guards at a Panama City boot
camp for juvenile offenders operated by the Bay County Sheriff’s
Office. Martin Lee Anderson died one day after being roughed up
by guards.
His death remains under
investigation. The state’s government-operated military-style
boot camp system was shutdown in May.
