Posted on 12/18/2014 11:03:27 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
Alecia and Bounkham Phonesavanh never imagined their family would be at the center of a controversy over the militarization of police. But that’s exactly where they found themselves when their toddler was seriously injured by a SWAT team, also leaving them with a $1 million medical bill they have no hope of paying.
“They messed up,” Alecia Phonesavanh told ABC News' "20/20." “They had a faulty search warrant. They raided the wrong house.”
In the spring of 2014, the Phonesavanh’s home in Janesville, Wisconsin, was destroyed by fire. Homeless with four young children, they packed one of their last remaining possessions – their minivan – and drove 850 miles to the home of Bounkham’s sister in Cornelia, Georgia.
The family crowded into a former garage converted into a bedroom: parents Bounkham and Alecia, 7-year-old Emma, 5-year-old Mali, 3-year-old Charlie and 18-month-old Bounkham Jr., known as “Bou Bou.” It was a tight squeeze but only temporary. After two months the family had found a new house in Wisconsin and was planning to return home.
At approximately 2 a.m. May 28, the family awakened to a blinding flash and loud explosion in their bedroom. A Special Response Team (aka SWAT team) from the Habersham County Sheriff's Office burst unannounced into the bedroom where they were sleeping. According to police reports, Habersham Deputy Charles Long threw a “flash-bang” grenade – a diversionary device used by police and military – into the room. It landed in Bou Bou’s pack-and-play.
“Bou Bou started screaming,” recalls Alecia Phonesavanh. “I immediately went to grab him.”
But Alecia says Habersham Deputy Jason Stribling picked up the child before she could reach him. “I kept telling him, ‘Just give me my son. He's scared. He needs me. The officer wouldn't. And then he walked out of the room...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
If the family earns too much for Medicaid, why wouldn't SCHIP? (And if not, where did all the money form the SCHIP tax go?)
Thanks rdcbn. Meth-cookers who didn’t give a damn about their own child? Not exactly like finding a four leafed clover.
This police state brutality should have ended there! Our so called "representatives" failed to hold any one accountable for the murder by fire of almost 80 US Citizens that day!
The popo need to be more creative, and stop relying on grunt force tactics.
Must have been one of those popular steel, 2-ton cribs to be such an effective barricade. I'm not sure how a flash-bang would make an inanimate object move though, so this solution to a blocked door seems questionable.
The other way (where they stand) would merely be suicide - going Bronson on them would give you more time before being executed. I hear you.
I would be very skeptical of those “facts.”
Coming to a police force near you if it is not already there. And we are now in the midst of a federalization of local police forces. These things will be controlled from Washington and will acquire a political nature that is less alarming to the armed citizenry by doing it with “local” police forces than with federal teams.
What is your source for that statement?
I don’t necessarily question the facts, but the facts suggest that the raid was overkill.
A home that is set up as a drug distribution point, in suburbia, is set up to blend in. There are not going to be guards standing at the doors with AK-47s at all hours of the day. They will also keep basically enough stash and money to get through the day. There are not going to be millions of dollars on site or tens of kilos of anything. The last thing they want is a raid by police or a rival network.
The home is a low risk situation for the police and they kkow this.
It's the first I've heard of it, too. They don't seem the type =>
In Wisconsin, Alecia worked as a full-time nurse caring for elderly and disabled people. She worked 16-hour days, sometimes seven days a week to support the family.
Bounkham stayed at home and cared for the couple’s three daughters — ages 3, 5, and 7 — baby Bou Bou, and Alecia’s mentally disabled brother.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/how-a-meth-deal-and-a-botched-raid-left-a-baby-maimed
If that were my kid I wouldn’t be calling for it. It would already have happened.
They certainly are responsible for using a flashbang in a manner that was unsafe. Flashbangs are not toys, they are weapons. If they had burned a suspect, it would still be wrong.
All these accusations against the family, including this idiotic claim they used their child as a door stop, smell of CYA, made up excuses, and demonizing the victims without evidence.
I wondered the same. From the snippet provided by rdcbn in post 10--it appears that the arrests were made at another residence, not the home raided.
The family crowded into a former garage converted into a bedroom: parents Bounkham and Alecia, 7-year-old Emma, 5-year-old Mali, 3-year-old Charlie and 18-month-old Bounkham Jr., known as “Bou Bou.”
At approximately 2 a.m. May 28, the family awakened to a blinding flash and loud explosion in their bedroom. A Special Response Team (aka SWAT team) from the Habersham County Sheriff's Office burst unannounced into the bedroom where they were sleeping.
If the family had such disregard for their child, to use him as a door block...why would they hide the children when drug deals went down? Why would they still have custody of this child and the other children? If the parents are such hard-core, dope dealing, meth cookers-- they certainly should have the children removed.
I don't know enough of the facts to determine much but what is known to us doesn't look good for the police. No matter the story, the child was innocent and this is a horrid tragedy! If was was a converted garage to bedroom, it seems likely a child wasn't used to block the door--the child was there because of space etc. Plus, a playpen isn't much of a door block.
How did the parents have time to block the door with the child, if first the police feel resistance (playpen resistance--yeah)and then use a flashbang? Did they go for the front door first? Was that door blocked, too?
Post some sources for your allegations.
Ping.
Gee. How hard can this be to figure out? The incompetent SWAT team raids the wrong address, drops a grenade in the baby's crib, and attempts to cover up the injuries to the child.
Minimally, when a SWAT team raid the wrong address it should result in automatic termination from the police force.
Yes. Everyone knows that portable baby cribs make better door barriers than a nailed 2x4. *Sheesh*. This sounds like a concocted story by the cops to cover their incompetence.
Did you look at the picture of the couple in the story? Do they even look remotely like a couple of meth heads?
It’s a fine line between what Lurker said in post 51, and what roadcat said in post 21. Post 51 gave a hypothetical response to a hypothetical situation. Post 21 was worded in such a way as to actually call for at least two people to be assassinated. That’s why I asked for clarification. I’m glad that was not the intent
I think most of us have posted things that didn’t come across they way we intended. A n00b would have drawn some seriously negative attention for that. Old-timers should have the opportunity to clear it up. That’s why I did not notify a moderator. Maybe I should have. Looks like maybe some did, as the post is gone.
Antways, I’m glad it was just a misunderstanding. No harm, no foul. :~}
Agreed, but there would have to be a change in the law. Seems as though cops have “immunity from prosecution” even when there is a clear violation of the law and their oath to serve. Just read an article by a cop saying with all this “interference” ( you know body cameras,etc.) that the public can expect to see them really cut back on getting into “hazardous” situations. Evidently they don't like not having carte blanche to do whatever they want without any oversight. Personally, I think a more effective culture would be to allow people to be armed. Right now, most people are simply sitting ducks for criminals because they know that there is no available deterrence for the vast majority.
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