http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6502179.stm







US boot camp death family settle







Martin Anderson was beaten on his first day at the campAuthorities in Florida have been ordered to pay $2.4m (£1.2m) to the family of a teenager who died while attending a boot camp in Bay County.
The settlement from Bay County is in addition to $5m the state will pay.
Martin Lee Anderson, aged 14, died after being beaten by seven guards at the camp, which the boy was sent to as punishment for lawbreaking.
His family had been seeking $40m but in the end decided that they did not want to endure two trials.
"The parents did not want to go through two lengthy trials and reliving the traumatic events that surrounded the death of their son," the family's lawyer Ben Crump said.
Ammonia inhalation
Following Anderson's death, which happened shortly after he arrived at the boot camp in January 2006, Florida closed all of its military-style camps for young offenders.
The seven former wardens who beat Anderson and a nurse who watched the incident have been charged with manslaughter over his death.






Film emerged showing the wardens beating the 14-year-oldAn initial post-mortem by Bay County Medical Examiner Dr Charles Siebert said Anderson had died from complications of sickle cell trait.
But that conclusion sparked outrage after a video appeared showing guards surrounding him - some holding him while others apparently hit him.
The boy was seen being knocked to the ground with fists and knees then forced to inhale ammonia capsules held under his nose.
Suffocation
Florida Governor Jeb Bush ordered an investigation that led to a second autopsy.
Dr Vernard Adams, who carried out the second post-mortem, said Anderson died because his mouth was blocked and was forced to inhale ammonia fumes.
The "forced inhalation" caused his vocal cords to spasm and block his upper airways, the Hillsborough County medical examiner concluded.
The guards had said in an incident report that they used ammonia capsules five times on Anderson to gain his co-operation.
The eight accused have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. They each face sentences of up to 30 years in jail if convicted.
The teenager had been sent to the camp for violating probation by trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.

I hope they take some of the money...and set up a fund that helps prevent young kids from entering life of crime....and also one that helps other families that go through this type of thing.Create a legacy.......don't just get the money and move on....like Abner Louima did....

^^ Don't hold your breath or you will be a dead man. There is going to be a driveway full of Escalades with 22's on them. It would be nice if they would do something to setup some type of memorial in the young brotha's name, but that's not how we roll. Nevertheless, I hate to hear another one of our young men has been murdered by the system.