(WAOK) Atlanta – A 19-month-old toddler was critically injured after a police flash bang was tossed into his bed during a police raid at a Habersham County home on Wednesday.
“It’s my baby. He’s my only baby. He didn’t deserve any of this,” said Alecia Phonesavanh, the mother of the child.
“It landed in his playpen and exploded right in his face,” said Phonesavanh.
The child is now being treated at Grady hospital and has a 50 percent chance of survival.
“He’s in the burn unit. We got to see him and his whole face is ripped open. He has a big cut on his chest,” said Phonesavanh. “He’s only 19 months old, he didn’t do anything.”
The sheriff’s department said they had no idea there were children in the house.
“There was no clothes, no toys, nothing to indicate that there was children present in the home. If there had been then we’d have done something different,” said Cornelia police chief Rick Darby.
A playpen is not an indication of children?
The child’s parents have contacted the GBI but were told no further investigation was needed.
Why would the mafia investigate the mafia?
and since when do police use military weaponry IN civillian areas?
even worse IN homes.
and the supposed reason for this gross violence on citizens was?
“and the supposed reason for this gross violence on citizens was?”
Officer safety, obviously. (/sarc off)
See, when I say “officer safety” it really does sound like (and is!) sarcasm.
On the other hand, the officials involved, if you pressed them, would actually give you the same answer, and they would expect you to believe it. Their answer would be something like this:
“Our brave officers were concerned that if they tried to serve a warrant, someone inside the house might turn violent against them. Yes, the officers are trained. Yes, the officers are wearing body armor. Yes, the officers have full auto assault weapons. And tear gas. And pepper spray. And flash grenades. And barricades. And shields. And armored personnel carriers. And various listening devices. And helicopters. And freedom from personal liability. And massive numbers. And unlimited legal support. And play golf with the judges. And… and… But that is beside the point. They were fearful of their safety — even though they knew that their job was dangerous when they hired on. Even though they expect public adulation because “they put their lives on the line every day!” The point is, they were fearful of their safety. Someone in the house MIGHT have turned violent and endangered our brave officers. Of course if we had known for a fact that someone inside WAS armed, we would have stayed outside and NOT used a flash-bang. You know… like at Columbine. As it was, they were fearful. They had no choice but to throw a grenade into a baby play pen. They did not want to create any collateral baby damage, but heh, you know, omelets, eggs, that sort of thing… It was unavoidable. Did I mention that the officers were fearful of their safety?”
Actually Taxi cab drivers have a more dangerous job.
Number Of Officers Killed In The Line Of Duty Drops To 50-Year Low While Number Of Citizens Killed By Cops Remains Unchanged
Cops Kill 8 Times More Americans Than Terrorists Do
Unfortunately this type of incident is becoming common place where police consider it perfectly acceptable to have civilian “colleral damage” and courts do not rein them in inany way.
This is a real problem that all citizens, whether democrat or republican should be concerned about. We should push for, at minimum, similar simple accounting laws to determine just where and how often SWAT teams are used.
DARN, forgot link again. Militarized police overreach:
I want to put this separate so everyone reads it.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/10/militarized_police_overreach_oh_god_i_thought_they_were_going_to_shoot_me_next”/
It is time to take passages from both articles (fair use) plus links and hand them out to all your neighbors! e-mail them to your friends, FAX them (and phone and e-mail) to your Congress Critters. Just get the information out their. (Fax has a higher “forcing” than letters or e-mail or phone calls because they are required by law to keep them.)
This is something we can all do.
Jason Calley,
I recall watching a video of the police outside of Columbine, crawling on their bellies behind parked cars, clearly worried about going in. That would have been dangerous for them.
So they stayed outside for hours, lying on their stomachs and observing the situation, while the gunman inside was murdering kids. They could hear the shots. It was scary!
But the bright side was that the police were all safe. Thank goodness for that. They have to make it to their full-pay pensions. Why take any chances?
/s
“and the supposed reason for this gross violence on citizens was?” The toddler was probably a suspected dealer or terrorist.
But you are right. In a normal world, police would have knocked at the door and politely asked questions before dropping bombs. Are these human beings they engage for police?
What a tragedy for those parents. And the child will be marked for life.
If the child survives at all.
One comment I saw (I think from an older police officer) is that police departments are now recruiting combat trained and tried soldiers. These men view ‘Citizens’ as enemy combatants and not as their neighbors and the folk they serve.
I have become amazed at how poorly humans learn from history. There are many in this country who believe a police state is a good idea. History has shown repeatedly and through the attrition of hundreds of millions of lost lives, just how bad the idea of a police state is, and yet we continue to repeat the same stupid shit, over and over and over again.
Humans are good at this; the ‘bread and circuses’ amuse us and we forget …
+1
I remember using flashbangs against international terrorists while playing “Rainbow Six.” Now it’s being used by local police in house raids. SMH
So I guess the wise policy for parents is to scatter their children’s toys at night to alert Officer Friendly to their infant’s presence so they won’t throw grenades in their face.
re: Joseph Dooley May 30, 2014 at 2:15 pm
So I guess the wise policy for parents is to scatter …
Especially if visiting relatives (an in-law in this case) from out of state.
Always be sure to secure all incidental details to a ‘story’ before rendering absolute judgement.
.
In this case, the victim was an infant — and that automatically hits the emotional response button for most people. Why? Because we know with certainty that the infant did nothing criminal. Consider though… if the child had been five years old, would we respond the same? Fifteen? What if it had been a twenty five year old man? If we had some way of knowing that the twenty five year old man were as innocent of crimes as the infant surely was, we OUGHT to be just as outraged. The point which our outrage should be centered on is that the police threw a grenade into a house with very little reason and with absolutely no way of knowing whether a person (of whatever age or whatever guilt) would be injured.
Suppose that the police had randomly fired into the house, hoping to intimidate the one person that they wished to arrest? How is this any different?
ANY human being … you are right.
This is all part of the militarization of local police departments.
More info – they were staying at a relative’s home (reason no child’s toys etc seen) … an individual from the house known to have ‘drugs and guns’ sold drugs to undercover agent, cops then obtained a warrant and ‘raided’ the house …
– – – – – – –
SWAT team throws a stun grenade into a toddler’s CRIB during drugs raid leaving him in a coma with severe burns Wisconsin mother Alecia Phonesavanh and her 19-month-old son, Bou, were visiting her sister-in-law in Atlanta, Georgia
-Deputies said they bought drugs from the house and came back with a no-knock warrant to arrest a man known to have drugs and weapons, WSB reported. They arrested Wanis Thometheva, 30, during the raid.
-They were all asleep when police raided the home early Wednesday
-Phonesavanh said officers threw a grenade, which landed in her baby’s crib and exploded in his face
-The child was seriously injured and was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital’s burn unit where doctors placed him in a medically induced coma
-Most photographs of the baby’s burns are too graphic to show
-Police said a multijurisdictional drug unit issued a warrant and organized the SWAT operation
-It’s not clear if any drugs were found in the home during the raid
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2643344/Horror-SWAT-team-throw-stun-grenade-toddlers-CRIB-drugs-raid-leaving-coma-severe-burns.html
The simple possession of drugs can never EVER outweigh the life of a human being, even if that human being is a drug dealer. Police should protect people, not harm them.
Given the high number of failed and misdirected no-knock incidents, police should have learned; but they seem too stupid.
re: Bernd Palmer May 30, 2014 at 2:35 pm
The simple possession of drugs can never EVER …
This appears to be the SALES of drugs by individual(s) at the house … not that facts matter all that much sometimes …
.
When you sell drugs to a cop, they can make the arrest on the spot. That’s what cops masquerading as prostitutes do.
Unless … you want to ‘build up’/stack up the charges by arresting the individual also in possession of a dreaded ‘firearm’ … just thinking like the cops might have been thinking …
“They were all asleep when police raided the home early Wednesday”
So why the flash-bang? Surely a fast, forced entry would have been enough?
this sort of home invasion/attack against civilians has got to stop. They could have picked up the drug dealer outside the home then exercised a search warrant without all the pseudo military wannabe nonsense that is killing and maiming people all over the country.
Well, I was wrong, and I might as well confess.
I really thought that the officials would claim “officer safety” as their justification for throwing a grenade into a baby’s play pen. They did not claim officer safety. Instead, they claimed that “Bad things can happen. That’s just the world we live in.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/a-country-where-police-burn-infants-in-their-cribs/
Nothing to see here, move along.
Australian cops are slightly better. They beat the crap out of the homeless.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/police-assualt-acquittal-officers-blamed-baton/5486420
Government is out-of-control, at all levels— Fed, State, and local.
Out-of-control.
I’m sure the sherriff’s will all need special leave for PTSD. Just like the brownshirts did in the 1930’s.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ptsd-workers-compensation-benefits-sought-by-police-unions/
This is a tragic event, but predictable.
We have given up so much of our freedom since the 1960’s.
We allowed the federal government searches of the residences of people on welfare/public housing, without a warrant (they were called safety/health checks).
Next came the war on drugs with searches, asset seizing without probable cause or a search warrant or a court order.
Next was the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (I am not advocating drunk driving) and rolling police check points.
The next group that wanted to take away rights were the cigarette NAZIS (don’t smoke and never have) with all the sting operations on Quick shops etc.
Then came 911 and the Patriot Act which was took a big bite out of our rights and was only to be temporary. But which has been enhanced and extended.
Next came the zealots to ban guns and all that lead too (selling gun to Mexican drug cartels).
On to police using drones and military being assigned to regular police departments.
The military legally killing US citizens with out court orders, drones (on our own soil) the NSA spying in on US citizens in the US. and now a new government data base with all of our financial records, all of these acts are sanctioned by the courts.
Even to the taking of our land, houses, farms and businesses under the defense resources preparedness act.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
We have lost so many rights do to the “good intentions” of people and I fear that it is too late to correct the loss. The loss of rights did not occur over night but little bites at a time. WE allowed this to happen because we got lazy and could not see the unintended consequences of our complacency. We got the government we demanded.
No mention of the IRS? COMPLETE revelation of your life’s finances before government eyes (and into their computers) … and most people are accepting of this, year after year after year …
And now, your life’s medical history! Year after year after year …
Jim, there are so many other examples and I wanted to keep the post short.
Also it was predicted and not inevitable (sunset laws and our own awareness of where the laws might lead, could have slowed if not stopped it).
I’ve had a similar reaction in my concurrent comment below.
Predictable—and predicted.
I would have said inevitable vs predictable, as in “The End is Inevitable, But Not Predictable”.
Predictable, and having been actually predicted (including your crucial points about financial and medical history).
Predictable, and inevitable without a change in direction.
In my book, ‘predictable’ connotes an associated time frame; inevitable does not.
My imagination fails me right now and I’m having trouble coming up with inevitables without some time frames attached. I’m used to it—my imagination failed me many times in the past.
No, we got the government we were fed by our enemies foreign and domestic.
SEE older comments:
We lost the USA in 1913
Dan Rather and the Press
The Drugging of our children
From the book Willing Accomplices: How KGB Covert Influence Agents Created Political Correctness and Destroyed America by Kent Clizbe
When we lost our Christianity, we implicitly elected babysitters.
Government out of control. As Pelosi would say – you have to kill children to save children.
That was Stalin she was parroting.
Again from Willing Accomplices
It is the consolidate power she is interested in.
“Premise Four: Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and the fetishization of the victims.”
~Derrick Jensen (Endgame)
http://www.derrickjensen.org/work/endgame/endgame-premises-english/
“Civilization originates in conquest abroad and repression at home.”
~Stanley Diamond (1981) In Search of the Primitive: A Critique of Civilization (page 1)
Trail of Tears, ain’t it?
The nations police force needs to be re-evaluated. Not every situation needs a SWAT. We need to demilitarize the police in this country and teach them to solve problems on the lowest levels.
The only way to roll things back is to reduce DHS funding. Most local police departments are awash in DHS money and these funds are being used to militarize the police.
Since 9/11 the town I live in (population 5000 in rural MA) has added new cars with all the high tech toys (license plate readers etc), emergency generators, a mobile detective lab in what amounts to an armored car (dual purpose?). This is a very low crime area but the cops are totally geared up.
If the town had to pay for all this there would be an outcry but since DHS money is used nobody complains.
Their “job” is to control and rule Americans through fear and violence. They are waging a very violent war against the citizens of America. They are the sworn enemies of every decent citizen. No man, woman, child, or even your dog is safe while these violent gun thugs are roaming our streets murdering us all.
If a school bus driver accidentally ran over a child, they would be charged with grievous bodily harm (as a minimum) and sacked, never to be rehired in that job. Different rules for cops. They get a medal for killing babies. Like the military do.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-30/sydney-bus-driver-charged-over-cbd-accident-that-killed-woman/5489576
When a pic kills 5 “civilians” he gets to call himself an “ACE Pig.” Its a big deal in the cop shop. All young pigs are bucking to make ACE. And, of course, each time they murder a “civilian” they are rewarded with a bonus month of paid vacation.
Why does service of a warrant for drug (meth) dealing justify a no-knock, SWAT raid?
“Officer safety” does not trump the Fourth Amendment, especially on trumped-up claims of “officer safety”.
Sure glad we once had the good sense to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment. Now if we could only figure our where we put that good sense…
The cops were in fear for their lives. The baby obviously had a loaded diaper and the cops thought the smell was a mustard gas attack. They decided the baby needed to be attacked with a hand grenade