An Ohio family is praying for the recovery of a 17-month-old special-needs toddler who was injured during a botched police raid.
The incident occurred when law enforcement, aiming to apprehend a teenager they suspected of possessing a weapon, targeted a home the suspect didn’t live in anymore.
A police tactical team deployed flash-bang grenades as they executed a warrant at a home in the Cleveland suburb of Elyria on Wednesday, Jan. 10, around 2:15 p.m., and the family says those devices harmed an innocent child with a heart defect.
Courtney Price, 25, and her son, Waylon May, were visiting from Kentucky with her aunt, Reida Jennings, when the officers raided the home. The family claims the police busted into the Parmely Avenue home with force without checking to see if the suspect, who does not live in the home, was there and added that the incident was captured by the household’s surveillance camera.
Baby Waylon was sitting in his swing when allegedly dozens of members of the Special Response Team knocked down the door after tossing in the grenades.
“The baby is now in the ICU. He’s got burns all over him, inside of his lungs are burned,” said Jennings in an interview with FOX 8. “He’s already a special-needs baby. He’s a trach baby. He was on his ventilator, they let the baby lay there for about 35 to 45 minutes in the smoke.”
The family wants the police to take accountability and explain what exactly happened.
The police, who insist they were conducting a search for a teenager facing weapon charges as part of an ongoing investigation, said they deployed two flash-bangs outside the residence. The authorities categorically deny any allegations of the toddler’s exposure to chemical agents, negligence, or a lack of medical attention.
Police noted that the Elyria Police detectives, Elyria Fire paramedics, and the mother assessed the condition of the child at the time, and at the time, he did not need any…
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