Gov. Jeb Bush wants Bay County's sheriff to fire
the former supervisor of a juvenile boot camp in
Panama City where guards roughed up a 14-year-old
boy who later died.
Bush's letter to Sheriff Frank McKeithen was
released by the governor's office Wednesday. It was
written Friday, when a medical examiner said a
second autopsy on Martin Lee Anderson found that he
had been suffocated.
Dr. Vernard Adams said the boy couldn't breathe
because hands were over his mouth as guards forced
him to inhale ammonia fumes. The guards have said in
a report they used the ammonia to try to revive him.
The first autopsy found that he died naturally
from complications of sickle cell trait, a usually
benign blood disorder.
The Jan. 5 struggle was captured on videotape and
sparked protests in the Capitol. The military-style
camp was closed and the guards involved in the
altercation were laid off, but the supervisor, Capt.
Mike Thompson, was transferred to another position.
''When we got this additional information I
thought it was appropriate to request that he be
removed,'' Bush told reporters Wednesday. ''I think
there's enough information about how this boot camp
operated that suggests there ought to be a clean
slate.''
McKeithen wrote Bush on May 3 that Thompson
''violated no policies, procedures or laws'' but
that he would take swift action if a pending
criminal investigation implicates him in wrongdoing.
But Bush said in his letter that the sheriff
could act independently of that investigation.
''I believe it is essential that you identify and
take appropriate disciplinary actions for each
individual who may have had knowledge or
responsibility for authorizing guards to force
youths to inhale ammonia in order to obtain
behavioral compliance,'' Bush wrote. ''Specifically,
I recommend the dismissal of the former
supervisor.''
McKeithen told The News Herald of Panama
City on Tuesday that he had no plans to fire
Thompson. Sheriff's spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said
McKeithen and Thompson had declined interview
requests Wednesday from The Associated Press. Sasser
also declined comment.
''I'm sitting here in my office getting letters
from the most powerful man in the state asking me to
basically fire someone who I cannot find any reason
to fire,'' McKeithen told the newspaper. ''This puts
me in a pretty unique position.''
Bush wrote in a May 1 letter to McKeithen that
Anderson's family had strongly objected to
Thompson's continued employment and complained that
he had been offensive and acted inappropriately when
they spoke.
''I am concerned about these reports and ask you
to investigate Mr. Thompson's behavior, and
re-evaluate the appropriateness of his continued
employment with your office,'' Bush wrote.
McKeithen replied in his letter two days later
saying he could find no reason to fire Thompson
after doing research and interviewing him about his
encounters with Anderson's mother, Gina Jones.
The sheriff sent another letter Monday to Bush's
deputy chief of staff, Carol Gormley, saying that he
would no longer speak to her about the case by
telephone but would communicate only in writing to
avoid misunderstanding or misinterpretation.
Bush appointed State Attorney Mark Ober of Tampa
to investigate after the family disputed the
findings from the first autopsy by Dr. Charles
Siebert, the medical examiner for a district
including Bay County. Ober asked for the second
autopsy from Adams, Hillsborough County's medical
examiner.
The Legislature responded to the death by closing
four remaining boot camps and replacing them with a
less militaristic program called Sheriffs Training
and Respect, or STAR, that will forbid physical
intervention except for self-defense and require
checkups with offenders after they are released.
