PLANTATION
Boy, 13, dies after
collapse at camp
A Plantation
teenager died of unknown causes after a camping trip
at a state park in North Miami.
By ROBIN M. PEGUERO AND WANDA J.
DEMARZO
August 13, 2006
A Plantation boy
camping out with other youths at a North Miami park
died early Saturday after waking up in the middle of
the night, raving incoherently.
The 13-year-old was
part of a group from a juvenile military boot camp
based in Lauderhill. Authorities did not release the
youth's name late Saturday. But others on the
camping trip said he awoke around 3 a.m. and then
passed out in his tent at the Oleta River State
Recreation Area.
The youth was taken
to Parkway Regional Medical Center, where he died.
The cause of death is
unknown and won't be available until the autopsy is
conducted on Monday, according to North Miami police
Maj. Ron Simpson.
There were no visible
signs of injury.
The youth had been on
a four-day camping trip with 30 boys and girls from
Lauderhill's Back to Basics Military Academy, at
5770 W. Oakland Park Blvd. The boot camp helps teach
Christian values, principal Lynda Browne told Miami
Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4.
Earlier in the day,
the children had a relay race, Browne said. The teen
was slow, she said.
Later that night, he
needed to go to the restroom. A drill instructor
escorted him. Shortly after paramedics were called.
''He got up in the
middle of the night and he was, like incoherent, and
then he passed out,'' Simpson said.
The academy -- listed
as a religious, military-style boot camp for grades
4 through 12 on a Florida Department of Education
website -- seeks to train youngsters in leadership
and discipline.
Browne, of
Plantation, is listed as the contact, on the
website.
A recording says, in
part, ``We are changing the lives of children
daily.''
The kids, ages 11 to
16, wore military fatigues and engaged in military
marches and leadership training at the park's Boy
Scout compound.
It is unclear whether
the heat had anything to do with the youth's death.
A HOT DAY
Temperatures soared
into the low 90s at midday Friday in the North Miami
area, according to National Weather Service's
forecast office.
According to The
Associated Press, Browne, the academy's principal,
told WSVN-Fox 7 that the cadets were hydrated, fed
and well-cared for during the excursion.
''This has been
verified with our children,'' she said. ''They said
none of them really understand what went on,'' she
said.
Late Saturday, a
relative answering the door at Browne's Plantation
Gardens home said she was unavailable and upset
about what had happened.
The kids arrived at
the 993-acre park Wednesday and checked out at 9
a.m. Saturday.
The Oleta state park
bills itself one of the largest urban parks in the
state, situated on Biscayne Bay in northeast
Miami-Dade. It offers canoe trails, a swimming
beach, picnic pavilions and a fishing pier.
The child's parents
live in Plantation and they were at the hospital
until dawn and were resting before speaking to
police, Simpson said.
The investigation is
ongoing.
ANOTHER DEATH
Another teen death
occurred at a boot camp in January.
Martin Lee Anderson,
14, died after a confrontation with guards at a
juvenile boot camp in Panama City.
That investigation
also is ongoing.
Miami Herald staff
writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
