Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ATLANTA — A toddler was critically injured when a stun grenade was thrown into his crib during a SWAT raid, his family said.
Police came to the house around 3 a.m. Thursday, and the grenade they threw into the house exploded on the child's pillow, Vox said. The 19-month-old child, Bounkham Phonesavanh, was severely injured.
“He’s in the burn unit,” his mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, told WSB-TV. “We go up to see him and his whole face is ripped open. He has a big cut on his chest.”
Police raided the home after deputies bought drugs from someone at the location, and executed a no-knock warrant on the Habersham County home. They said they saw nothing to indicate there was a child at the home, according to Vox.
Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell told the AP that officers followed the correct procedure by using the grenade. When deputies and police officers arrived at the house, something was blocking the door from the inside.
USA Today reported that Terrell didn't know it was the playpen of the 19-month-old child, nor did police know that the boy was in the playpen sleeping.
"There was an obstruction, they inserted a flash bang, they had to push the door open. When they entered the door, they noticed it was a playpen, or like a pack-and-play type device," Terrell told USA Today. "There was a young child in the pack-and-play."
Terrell said their confidential informants, who bought drugs at the house, told them there were not any children in the home. He told USA Today his office always checks to see if there is a possibility of children in the home, but an interview with the child’s parents revealed they were keeping the children out of sight.
"They (told us they) knew that the homeowner's son was selling meth, so they kept the children out of sight in a different room while any of these going-ons were happening," Terrell told USA Today.
“I’ve talked to the D.A., I’ve talked to the GBI,” Terrell told Access North Georgia. “I’ve given them the whole information and they say there’s nothing else we can do. There’s nothing to investigate, there’s nothing to look at. Given the information given, GBI’s SWAT team would have done the exact same thing — they’d have used the exact same scenario to enter the house.”
"He's in the burn unit. We go up to see him and his whole face is ripped open. He has a big cut on his chest." —Alecia Phonesavanh
The family was visiting from out of town, staying with a friend after their Wisconsin home was burned. They said they do not have health insurance, and friends have set up a GoFundMe* to cover the medical costs.
Their lawyer, Mawuli Mel Davis, said the family is encouraging further investigation and hoping for criminal prosecution of the officers.
"It's unbelievable those officers continue to be on the street and continue to be employed after the way the family was treated and the son was injured," Davis told the AP.
The suspect, Wanis Thomethera, 30, was arrested along with three others during the raid.
*KSL.com
