If you are referring to Cornelia Police Department raid you are completely miscasting what transpired there
The house that was “raided” was a meth house that an informant had told the police was being guarded by armed men.
The babies crib was allegedly being used by the occupants to block and jam a door in the house to prevent home invaders from breaking in to steal their stash.
Note, the babies family had moved into this house after they allegedly burned their own house down cooking meth.
Here is the CNN report on the obviously tragic event-
“The SWAT team, made up of six or seven officers from the sheriff's department and the Cornelia Police Department, entered the Cornelia residence Wednesday before 3 a.m.
A confidential informant hours earlier had purchased methamphetamine at the house, the sheriff says. The informant told police that there were men standing guard outside the home, and it was unclear whether they were armed, according to CNN affiliate WGCL.
Because the suspected drug dealer, Wanis Thonetheva, had a previous weapons charge, officers were issued a “no-knock warrant” for the residence, Terrell said.
Wanis Thonetheva is being held without bond.
When the SWAT team hit the home's front door with a battering ram, it resisted as if something was up against it, the sheriff said, so one of the officers threw the flash-bang grenade inside the residence.
Once inside the house, the SWAT team realized it was a portable playpen blocking the door, and the flash-bang grenade had landed inside where the 19-month-old was sleeping, the sheriff said.
A medic on the scene rushed the baby outside to administer first aid, and a nearby ambulance was summoned. Authorities wanted to transport the baby via Life Flight to Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital, 75 miles southwest of Cornelia, but weather conditions wouldn't allow it. The baby was driven to the hospital.
Mother: ‘He didn't deserve any of this’
A Grady official said it's hospital policy not to disclose patients’ conditions, but the child's mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, told CNN affiliate WSB that doctors had put her son into an induced coma.
She further told the station the family was sleeping at her sister-in-law’s house when police arrived, and the grenade seared a hole through the portable playpen after exploding on the child's pillow.
“He didn't deserve any of this,” Phonesavanh told WSB. “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.”
Thonetheva, 30, was not at the home at the time of the raid, but the toddler's mother and father and their other three children were inside. Thonetheva's mother was also at the house, Terrell said.
The baby's family had moved into the Cornelia residence after their Wisconsin home burned, Terrell told CNN affiliate WXIA, and while the family members were aware of drug activity in the home, “they kept the children out of sight in a different room while any of these going-ons were happening.”
Thonetheva was arrested at another Cornelia residence, along with three other people, shortly after the raid, Terrell said. He is charged with distribution of methamphetamine. Habersham County Chief Assistant District Attorney J. Edward Staples said Thonetheva could also be charged in connection with the baby's injuries.
Thonetheva was already out on bond for an October 2013 charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony — the felony being distribution of methamphetamine, Staples said.”
So the facts are a little different than the story circulating and while the use of the flash bang was questionable I'm not sure it documents the case police officers out of control.
Flash bangs have saved more bad guys lives than can be counted because they tend to prevent gunfights when Police enter a house to arrest a bad guy.
I am troubled by the increasing frequency of mistaken SWAT raids, but consider this - 30 years ago SWAT teams were mostly ordinary street officers who volunteered for special training to respond to occasional serious or potentially violent events like hostage taking and worked as a team a couple times a year when necessary .
Nowadays, some SWAT Teams in larger metro areas are often working full time 24/7 arresting multiple, violent, heavily armed hyper violent gang or cartel members in semi fortified safe houses in gang controlled neighborhoods that essentially no go zones for conventional patrol officers.
Increasingly, SWAT teams are responsible for liberating and probably saving the lives kidnapped illegal aliens being held hostage and brutalized.
SWAT operations are more and more becoming some officers regular day to day jobs in today's brave new world and the level of violence of the bad guys they deal with justifies their methods.
Overall, SWAT Teams are generally very professional and have very good records in dealing with dangerous situations while protecting the by standing public. I am sure there are cases of SWAT teams making errors or using excessive force, but it is slander to wrongly accuse many of the dedicated, selfless and brave police officers of misconduct.
Have your facts straight before you wrongly slander the conduct of police officers dealing with total scum bags. I find it amazing anyone would diss the police while listening to the much maligned Ferguson Police risking their lives under serious gun fire trying to protect their city from hard core criminals and professional revolutionaries.
You should be f**king ashamed of yourself
Thank you for that info.
watching fox there were 2 black reporters? who are as closed minded about the evidence as the people burning and looting. I am amazed at their ignorance.