Federal officials to review boot camp death case - CNN.com

I don't know how many people follow this case but I've payed a bit of attention to it because it is similar to the field that my husband and I have worked with. But I'm the first to admit that I wasn't on the jury and I don't know what evidence they were presented.

Truthfully I don't see how these guards and the one nurse got completely off. I don't think they meant to kill him and he may have died do to outside health problems but there is a tape showing these guards kicking and hitting this kid because he wouldn't get up.

I never have dealt with a kid that went straight into wilderness, or in this case a boot camp style camp, I've always dealt with them after they went through these programs. And I haven't a doubt that you're dealing with some hard kids and some very dangerous kids. This boy was only 14 years old and usually the young ones are a little easier to work with. Not to mention at no point do I believe physical violence should be used on any kid. The most important part of this type of work is to develope a relationship with these kids and you most certainly don't develope a relationship with a kid that you start out kicking and hitting.

Like I said, I don't believe they meant to kill the boy, but their style of "treatment" most certainly was not good and I do believe that these gurads should have received some sort of punishment.

Just my two cents.

There's a difference between taking someone down and beating them up. In general police officers don't start kicking their suspects. I'm not exactly sure what the situation was but it was uncalled for. Beating up a minor (or anyone for that matter) in the justice system seems a bit unjust to me. I agree with what you said. It's possible he died from another reason. That does not absolve them though. They are still guilty of using excessive force. Either way, they were wrong. I hope they come to realise that.

Were these public employess? I wasn't sure if the boot camp was run privately or by the government.

I do believe the boot camp was a state based program and I'm only saying that because the State of Florida paid the family a lot of money after their son died. And they wouldn't have done that for private care.

You know, I tend to give police officers and other authority figures the benefit of the doubt (which isn't always correct either) but I still don't understand the need of kicking or hitting the boy.

I don't know. It makes me sad. I provided the medical care for the program that I worked for and I was hauling kids to the doctor all the time but again I worked with "softer" kids that had already been through wilderness.

NOT GUILTY? SERIOUSLY? What would they only be guilty of they knew about a bleeding disorder before they beat that CHILD that badly? What did several adults beating up kid think would happen?

They are responsible for that child's death as the people responsible for his welfare and I hope they never forget what they did!

I think the parents need to persue civil cases individually against every single one of them for wrongful death like the Goldman family did against OJ.

__________________
* Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it's realized that our liberties and wealth are in jeopardy.

~Ron Paul

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
- James Madison

Melsb,
What was the nurse's role in the whole thing. Could she have seriously gotten the gaurds to back off?

From what I have read, she sounds like she is giving the party line. I wonder if she really thinks that the force they used was ok, or does she just not want to speak out against her employer and fellow workers. I know she is bound by a code of ethics in the medical field, but there were several strong men "dealing" with the boy. Would they really have backed off if she had intervened? I'm just curious what could have been going through her mind at the time.

I've wondered about the nurse as well. I do know she was charged. Personally, I cannot imagine watching a group of grown men beating up on a kid, especially as a medical professional. It wasn't a riot situation where she herself could of come to danger and as far as I have heard she never attempted to stop what happened nor has she spoken out against her co-workers.

Again, the kid was 14 years old, and even for a big 14 year old he still wasn't as large as this group of adult men.

I've seen for myself that a lot of good can come from programs -- but cases like these, and it isn't the only one, make the rest of programs look bad.