Digest

Lawmakers seek boot camp probe

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 25, 2007

MIAMI

Three black members of Florida's congressional delegation asked federal officials on Wednesday to investigate the acquittal of eight boot camp employees by an all-white Bay County jury in the death of a black teenager.

Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Orlando, also asked acting Attorney General Peter Keiser to review the treatment of children in juvenile boot camps in other states.

"Significant evidence suggests that discriminatory treatment has frequently occurred at juvenile boot camps," the three representatives said in a letter to the Justice Department.

Florida ended its juvenile boot camp system after 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died a day after his videotaped encounter with the seven guards, who kneed, hit and dragged his limp body around the exercise yard of the Panama City camp.

STUART

Men hurt when plane crashes into river

Two men are recovering from minor injuries they got when their small plane crashed into the St. Lucie River.

Authorities say pilot Vincent "Mark" Molina and passenger Gary Hirsch took off from the St. Lucie International Airport for a sightseeing trip but their plane soon lost engine power.

Molina says he decided to ditch the plane in the river to avoid hitting anyone on the ground.

POMPANO BEACH

Gas station bodies were store clerks

Authorities have identified the two bodies found inside a Pompano Beach gas station, but the cause of death remains unknown.

A Broward County Sheriff's Office report says 63-year-old Sabri Khaleq and 48-year-old Adnan Khalil were store clerks. A customer found the bodies lying on the floor early Wednesday morning.

[Last modified October 25, 2007, 00:54:44]