Posted on 06/04/2014 12:17:09 PM PDT by Kaslin
When Alecia Phonesavanh heard her 19-month-old son, Bounkham, screaming, she thought he was simply frightened by the armed men who had burst into the house in the middle of the night. Then she saw the charred remains of the portable playpen where the toddler had been sleeping, and she knew something horrible had happened.
Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh, who is in a medically induced coma at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, may never wake up. But the appalling injuries he suffered during a police raid in Habersham County, Ga., last week should awaken the country to the moral obscenity that is the war on drugs.
Two months ago, after a fire at their home in Wisconsin, Alecia, her husband and their four children, ranging in age from 1 to 7, moved in with relatives who live just of outside of Cornelia, Ga. The whole family slept together in a garage that had been converted into a bedroom.
Sometime before 3 a.m. on May 28, a SWAT team consisting of Habersham County sheriff's deputies and Cornelia police officers broke into that room. One of the cops tossed a flash-bang grenade, which creates a blinding light and a loud noise that are supposed to disorient the targets of a raid. It landed in Bou Bou's playpen and exploded in his face, causing severe burns and a deep chest wound.
The cops were looking for the Phonesavanhs' 30-year-old nephew, Wanis Thonetheva, who a few hours before had allegedly sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant from the same doorway through which the SWAT team entered. They had obtained a "no knock" warrant by claiming Thonetheva was apt to be armed and dangerous.
Thonetheva was not there, and police did not find any drugs, cash or guns, either. When they arrested him later that morning at a different location, he had about an ounce of meth but no weapons.
Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell and Cornelia Police Chief Rick Darby said their officers would not have used a "distraction device" if they knew children were living in the house they attacked. But their investigation of that possibility seems to have consisted entirely of asking their informant, who according to Terrell was at the house only briefly and did not go inside.
Even rudimentary surveillance should have discovered signs of children, who according to the Phonesavanhs' lawyer played with their father in the front yard every day. Alecia told ABC News there were "family stickers" on the minivan parked "right near the door they kicked in," which contained four child seats, and "my son's old playpen was right outside because we were getting ready to leave" for Wisconsin. Anyone who entered the house would have seen toys and children's clothes.
Last week, Terrell claimed Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman had assured him the officers involved in the raid did everything right and "there's nothing to investigate." Rickman, who says he is conducting a thorough review, denies telling Terrell that. But the issue here goes beyond sloppy police work.
Terrell says Thonetheva is to blame for Bou Bou's injuries, and the alleged meth dealer may even face criminal charges based on that theory. But Thonetheva did not toss an explosive, incendiary device into a baby's crib; the police did that, in the service of an odious ideology that says violence is an acceptable response to consensual transactions in which people exchange money for drugs that legislators do not like.
"The little baby (who) was in there didn't deserve this," Terrell told WXIA, the NBC station in Atlanta. "These drug dealers don't care."
Terrell, by contrast, cares so much about the psychoactive substances his neighbors consume that he is willing to endanger the lives of innocent bystanders in his vain attempt to stop people from getting high. If people like Terrell cared a little less, Bou Bou would be home with his parents instead of clinging to life in a hospital.
As a Prosecutor, I/we were right there in the “War on Drugs”. And while police tactics have evolved to this para-military nightmare since I practiced, be assured the War on Drug is a joke. It benefits almost no one except those who make money on said war.
Horrifying Collateral Damage Inflicted by Drugs
Drugs destroy lives!
He blames “these drug dealers” for the kid’s injuries. What a piece of crap. Jackbooted thugs. I hope one day they know the pain this family is suffering.
What pisses me off more than anything is these cops will never admit they made a mistake. I saw an episode of THE FIRST 48 and this cop was convinced he had the right guy. Ended up evidence cleared the suspect. The cop kept saying “Man, I was wrong on that one. I’m going to have to be more careful in the future.” What would he have said if there were no cameras present?
When the government is banging on our doors to take us conservatives to concentration camps, these people will be chanting “It’s about drugs man, I’m telling you, man, this is about the war on drugs”
But it sure makes some sick bastards all giddy when they get to see some thick necked goons dressed like armored ninjas beatin' down some potheads or little kids getting burned in their cribs. Because, you know...there's a law, and all that.
TotALLY AGREE.
DARTH VADER is here!
It’s got nothing to do with drugs, as such. It’s the new style police thugs.
That destruction is largely self-inflicted - which is none of government's business, much less a justification for the War On Drugs' harm to third parties.
I’ve written about this before. After three deputies put my renter and her abusive boy friend to bed because they were too drunk to stand, they sent in a SWAT team because they’d spotted 48 10’’ pot plants. Twelve men with machine guns and an armored vehicle arrived at 2:00am and smashed in MY DOOR and arrested these people who had no guns and had only a history of drunken fighting with each other. Why didn’t the three deputies make the arrest right then and there? Well, I suspect it was so they could get extra pay and practice. The damage they did was gratuitous and unnecessary.
IMO the state’s governor should be required to sign off on every no-knock raid. That would not deprive the police of their use if there was truly a reason. But you can bet if the governor’s signature was required there really would be a reason. It wouldn’t be for overtime pay and lots of fun on their part.
Perhaps I’d support the war on drugs if you couldn’t buy any drug you wanted in any city, town, or village in this country. The war isnt working.
Even this article glosses over what happened. A baby had it’s entire face blown off, and faces a lifetime of reconstructive surgery and other incalculable complications.
JustSayNo
Drugs do destroy lives, but some people have a psychological need to destroy themselves and you can’t stop them through jackboots.
To using the largely self-inflicted harms of drugs as a justification for the War On Drugs' harm to third parties, I do just say no.
“Drugs destroy lives!”
Yes they do, but the police seem to be more efficient at it.
Just as the JBT's use these no-knock raids and profit off of the WOD, surrender monkeys use these "baby's face is blown away" stories to argue for legalization.
There is a better solution. Wish I knew what. But waiving the white flag and surrendering in the WOD is NOT the answer.
The “War on Drugs” is only being prosecuted aggressive enough to keep the drug prices high, the cartels and gangs profitable, and the prison guard unions happy.
Hopefully this will be a shakeup call to judges who routinely sign “no knock” warrants without performing their due diligence. Take away their immunity from civil liability or at least limit it and I’ll bet incidents like this and raids at the wrong address decline in number.
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