Many of you may remember the (not too uncommon story) of SWAT serving a no-knock warrant over a supposed 50 dollars worth of meth, and ended up flash-banging a babies nose off.
See this diary by jpmassar for the story and the disturbing injuries caused by SWAT.
Well now, as might have been expected... law enforcement gets off free, because... well why the hell not.
Rawstory
A grand jury in Georgia declined to indict the law enforcement officers involved in a botched drug raid that left a toddler disfigured and badly injured.
A SWAT officer tossed a flash grenade May 28 into a playpen where 19-month-old Bounkham “Bou Bou” Phonesavanh was sleeping during a no-knock raid overseen by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The toddler’s nose was detached from his face, and the blast ripped a hole in his chest and caused serious burns.
You see a confidential informant had claimed he bought a master-criminals amount of meth (50 dollars worth) from an individual at the house, and that the home was heavily armed. Ahh confidential informants... always the most believable sources. Seeing as they are usually criminals being paid to entrap most anyone they can make a buck off of.
Officers found no drugs or weapons during their search, but the maimed boy’s cousin was arrested later that day without incident and charged with possession of meth.
A 23-member grand jury panel heard six days of testimony before deciding not to charge any of the officers involved in the raid.
The boys cousin was found later that day. So a night-time no-knock warrant was not even needed in the first place, let alone flash-grenades on toddlers. Toddlers who will be injured for life, and ultimately, will have to pay the price. Figuratively and literally, for the rest of his life:
An attorney for the family said the toddler had surgery about a month ago that required 60 stitches to his face and 70 to his chest.
The boy will likely need similar surgeries every two years until he is 20 years old to repair badly damaged nerve endings in his face and additional plastic surgery throughout his life, the attorney said.
The county has said it would not pay for the child’s medical bills, arguing that the board of commissioners was not legally permitted to pay for them.
In other news, John Oliver did a massive
takedown of Police Forefeiture and the major scam that it is.
Also, a little reminder that some SWAT organizations are claiming to be private corporations.
6:59 AM PT: DailyMail has some more:
Bou Bou spent five weeks being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta before returning home in July.
Surgeons repaired the child's lung so he could be removed from the ventilator and patched and re-attached his nose that had been detached by the explosion, as well as treating injuries to his lips and mouth.
Last month, the family learnt that public officials refused to foot the $800,000 medical bills for Bou Bou's treatment that they had 'publicly promised to pay'.
...
In the wake of the incident, Mrs Phonesavanh has spoken out about what she feels is the abuse of power by police officers.
She said: 'This is happening every day to people [who are] being relentlessly and unnecessarily militarized by police who think just because they're supposed to be upholding the law, they are above the law themselves.
'It’s time to remind the cops that they should be serving and protecting our neighborhoods, not waging war on the people in them.'