A baby had to be transported to hospital after police in Elyria, Ohio allegedly detonated a flash grenade through a window under which his bassinet was located, while the police were searching for the suspect in an armed robbery… to the wrong address.
“All I saw was flashes of light and smoke coming into the house. I didn’t know what to do because there were guns pointed at me. I wanted to run to my baby, but I knew if I had run to him, they could have shot,” young mother Courtney Price, 25, told Cleveland 19 News on Friday.
Last Wednesday, around 2:15 p.m., the young woman was alone at the home of her uncle and aunt, where she remained awaiting open heart surgery for her little Waylon, 17 months old, at the time. where approximately 20 officers from the Elyria Police Special Response Team allegedly smashed in one of the living room windows without warning.
Except that under the window from which the police allegedly sent a flash grenade, a tool which aims to distract a suspect using heavy noise and light, was the premature baby on a ventilator, who would suffer from a serious lung disease and a heart defect, according to what the mother told the local media.
“They dragged me out of the house, handcuffed me, I kept screaming “baby my baby my baby is here!” I was outside for 35 or 45 minutes while my baby was inside,” she reportedly continued.
In a statement, the Elyria Police Department confirmed Saturday that it had offered hospital transport for the baby for a “pre-existing illness unrelated to the tactical operation,” denying that it had caused harm to the baby.
“Any allegation suggesting that the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical care or negligence is false,” the police force said in a statement.
However, after being released from the hospital the same evening, the little one would have required a second emergency transfer to the hospital after having dangerously low blood oxygen levels the following morning. He was reportedly diagnosed with chemical pneumonia, due to the chemicals present in the pomegranate, according to the mother.
What’s more, the search warrant was aimed at finding firearms allegedly used in a robbery by a 14-year-old suspect, who had not lived at the address for more than a year, and the police knew it, insisted Redia Jennings, the young woman’s aunt.
“(They have already come) about five times (…) Several detectives were looking for him, the Crown Prosecution Service and the school officer,” she sighed.
Police said an investigation was underway to shed light on the incident, while the family indicated they wanted to take legal action against the department.
