TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Concerned college students are
stepping up the heat on Bay County officials in the wake of
the death of Martin Lee Anderson.
Members of the Student Coalition for Justice have been
staging a phone protest all week from Florida State, Florida
A & M University, and Tallahassee Community College.
They’re calling the sheriff’s office to demand the ouster of
former boot camp supervisor Capt. Mike Thompson.
Anderson died in January after guards pushed ammonia
capsules up his nose while covering his mouth after the teen
collapsed during exercises.
Sheriff Frank McKeithen has complained that the hundreds of
protest calls might disrupt emergency service, but the
students said they want to make an important point.
“He said that we were disturbing their business, and I
think our daily business has been disturbed because we have
to worry about whether due process and justice will be
denied in the case that I believe should have been open and
shut," FAMU student body president Phillip Agnew said. "I'm
not a pre-law major, but I believe when you have an ample
amount of evidence, you have an ample amount of witnesses,
that it's pretty open and shut. And I think they're
complicating, you know, disturbing their own business. They
could easily take care of this case and bring those people
who are guilty to justice.”
The students said they are not calling an emergency line,
only an office number.
The calls originally went to a receptionist, but are now
being forwarded to an answering machine.
The student group thinks protesters have made at least 500
calls, including some coming in from campuses in other
states.
