Leonard Pitts: Black kids behind bars
By Leonard Pitts
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, May 15, 2006
So now we know how Martin Lee Anderson died.
SC: If the Miami Herald knows, why not tell us all? Think of the time and money it would save Mr. Ober, the chief investigator. No charges have been filed yet. I don't know how he died.
We can forget the original autopsy report filed by Charles Siebert, a doctor so inept he wasn't technically a doctor (he had allowed his license to lapse) when he issued the report. A doctor so inept he once described a person he autopsied as having "unremarkable" testes. The person was a woman, so if she had testes at all, it would seem quite remarkable, indeed.
SC: Why forget? All of the evidence so far indicates the original autopsy was correct. And it's backed up by the world's foremost authority on that specific cause of death. Since when do we equate being inept/incompetent with merely forgetting to make a utility or credit card payment? Being absent-minded or forgetful is the same thing as being inept/incompetent? A long-haired musician once won a prize, a check for $1000 or more. Since he had trouble remembering his place in reading a book, he used the check for a bookmark -- and then forgot what he did with the book. One could argue that he was incompetent as a musician because another member of the string quartet complained that his trouble was he couldn't count. But incompetent at his day job also? I forget his name. So I'm incompetent.
SC: Dr. Siebert gave a logical explanation about the lady with testes long ago to the Miami Herald. He also proved to us that there are males at the Miami Herad that don't have testes. He even paid his way to Miami to answer their questions. "Responding to a News Herald query in February, Siebert said the mistakes in Reed’s autopsy report were transcription errors and that his secretary, who did the transcriptions, often wrote over previous reports, a habit that introduced the errors regarding Reed’s sexual organs." Performing an autopsy and getting a 747 off the ground have much in common. It's complex and to make sure you don't forget to check everything required, you use a check-off sheet and check every item. In most legalese you simply take a model report that you know has everything required on it and copy it but marking out dates and names and inserting new dates and names in as applicable. Today that's called 'creative' writing. It's also called plagiarism at times. The girl simply failed to cross out an entry replacing it with the pertinent one.
Siebert claimed that after being hit, manhandled and choked by guards Jan. 5 at a so-called boot camp in Panama City, Fla., the 14-year-old Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder carried by one in 12 Americans of African heritage. That finding has been roundly hooted by real doctors, who say it is unlikely in the extreme the condition could lead to death.
SC: The 'real doctor' hooters were hardly foremost authorities on the specialized knowledge required. They were corrected by Dr. Qark, a recognized expert in the specialized area. It appears two of the real doctors got through med school by using their hooters instead of their brains. It is speculative also about what is real about the doctors. Dr. Qark measured one boot camp recruit in 3000 with sickle cell trait dies in boot camp, and maintains that value is not considered "unlikely in the extreme."
Friday before last, a new autopsy told a different story. Dr. Vernard Adams, Tampa's chief medical examiner, found that the child died because guards covered his mouth and forced him to inhale ammonia.
SC: In truth, we have no new evidence from the second autopsy reported so far. Dr. Adams is making his guess on how he died from the video of the live incident, not his autopsy. And that is Mr. Ober's job. And his hands are tied until somebody tells him Dr. Siebert's autopsy is incorrect. Not a GP, but someone with real specialized pertinent knowledge and hands-on experience, like Dr. Qark or his associates.
About the writer:
Leonard Pitts Jr., winner of a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132; e-mail, lpitts@herald.com; toll-free phone, (888) 251-4407.
SC: I recommend Pulitzer's body be exhumed and reautopsied to determine how many times Pulitzer has rolled over in his grave because of Pitt's articles. OH, I just remembered the name of that long-hair that lost the book with the check in it. Ever heard of Albert Einstein? I think he was a rowing champion or something like that.
