The mayor Elyria, Ohio, has opened an investigation after a woman alleged police officers who raided her home had the wrong address and deployed flash bang devices that sent her 1-year-old to the hospital with burns.
However, police have offered a conflicting account of what happened on Jan. 10, saying they had executed a search warrant at the correct address and the child did not “sustain any apparent, visible injuries.”
Elyria Mayor Kevin A. Brubaker called the accusations “serious and disturbing,” announcing on Saturday “a complete review of the incident.” He said body camera footage from the incident will be released later Tuesday.
The Elyria Police Department had obtained a court-authorized search warrant for a residence in the 300 block of Parmely Avenue as part of criminal investigation, police said in a news release Friday.
That warrant was executed that same day at 2:12 p.m.
The Elyria Police Special Response Team deployed two diversionary devices, known as “flash-bangs,” outside the residence, made repeated announcements, entered the home and found a woman and her 17-month-old child inside.
Courtney Price was at home with her baby Waylon.
Price told Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer on Friday that the flash-bang devices were thrown into the home, causing smoke to cover Waylon.
“I kept yelling for my baby. The officers were in the home, searching the home. The baby was clearly laying there suffocating, turning red, blue, and they all just walked by him. Nobody went to him,” she told the outlets.
Elyria police said that the woman told officers that her baby had a pre-existing medical condition, and detectives and paramedics assessed the child, “confirming that the child did not sustain any apparent, visible injuries.”
Price told detectives she wanted to take her baby to the hospital due to his pre-existing illness, but she lacked a car seat to transport him. Police called an ambulance.
Price said that Waylon was placed in the pediatric ICU…
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