USA - a S.W.A.T. team blew a hole in my 2-year-old son (UPDATE)

[CLICKHEREx]

To those few of our readers with delicate sensibilities, I suggest not reading the following, but I regard it as being too important to not post, so that Australia does not go down the same path as the (variously) misguided, uncaring, and corrupt government of the USA.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/06/24/a_swat_team_blew_a_hole_in_my_2_year_old_son/

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2014

A SWAT team blew a hole in my 2-year-old son (UPDATE)

That's right: Officers threw a flashbang grenade in my son's crib -- and left a hole in his chest. It gets worse

Alecia Phonesavanh

Topics: SWAT Team, Police, grenade, feds, Police brutality, police misconduct, Editor's Picks, Babies, War on Drugs, hospitals, ACLU, Politics News

A SWAT team blew a hole in my 2-year-old son (UPDATE)Bounkham Bou Bou Phonesavanh(Credit: The Phonesavanh Family)

After our house burned down in Wisconsin a few months ago, my husband and I packed our four young kids and all our belongings into a gold minivan and drove to my sister-in-laws place, just outside of Atlanta. On the back windshield, we pasted six stick figures: a dad, a mom, three young girls, and one baby boy.

That minivan was sitting in the front driveway of my sister-in-laws place the night a SWAT team broke in, looking for a small amount of drugs they thought my husbands nephew had. Some of my kids toys were in the front yard, but the officers claimed they had no way of knowing children might be present. Our whole family was sleeping in the same room, one bed for us, one for the girls, and a crib.

After the SWAT team broke down the door, they threw a flashbang grenade inside. It landed in my sons crib.

Flashbang grenades were created for soldiers to use during battle. When they explode, the noise is so loud and the flash is so bright that anyone close by is temporarily blinded and deafened. Its been three weeks since the flashbang exploded next to my sleeping baby, and hes still covered in burns.

Theres still a hole in his chest that exposes his ribs. At least thats what Ive been told; Im afraid to look.

My husbands nephew, the one they were looking for, wasnt there. He doesnt even live in that house. After breaking down the door, throwing my husband to the ground, and screaming at my children, the officers armed with M16s filed through the house like they were playing war. They searched for drugs and never found any.

I heard my baby wailing and asked one of the officers to let me hold him. He screamed at me to sit down and shut up and blocked my view, so I couldnt see my son. I could see a singed crib. And I could see a pool of blood. The officers yelled at me to calm down and told me my son was fine, that hed just lost a tooth. It was only hours later when they finally let us drive to the hospital that we found out Bou Bou was in the intensive burn unit and that hed been placed into a medically induced coma.

For the last three weeks, my husband and I have been sleeping at the hospital. We tell our son that we l o v e him and well never leave him behind. His car seat is still in the minivan, right where its always been, and we whisper to him that soon well be taking him home with us.

Every morning, I have to face the reality that my son is fighting for his life. Its not clear whether hell live or die. All of this to find a small amount of drugs?

The only silver lining I can possibly see is that my baby Bou Bous story might make us angry enough that we stop accepting brutal SWAT raids as a normal way to fight the war on drugs. I know that this has happened to other families, here in Georgia and across the country. I know that SWAT teams are breaking into homes in the middle of the night, more often than not just to serve search warrants in drug cases. I know that too many local cops have stockpiled weapons that were made for soldiers to take to war. And as is usually the case with aggressive policing, I know that people of color and poor people are more likely to be targeted. I know these things because of the American Civil Liberties Unions new report*, and because Im working with them to push for restraints on the use of SWAT.

A few nights ago, my 8-year-old woke up in the middle of the night screaming, No, dont kill him! Youre hurting my brother! Dont kill him. How can I ever make that go away? I used to tell my kids that if they were ever in trouble, they should go to the police for help. Now my kids dont want to go to sleep at night because theyre afraid the cops will kill them or their family. Its time to remind the cops that they should be serving and protecting our neighborhoods, not waging war on the people in them.

I pray every minute that Ill get to hear my sons laugh again, that Ill get to watch him eat French fries or hear him sing his favorite song from Frozen. Id give anything to watch him chase after his sisters again. I want justice for my baby, and that means making sure no other family ever has to feel this horrible pain.

Update: As of the afternoon of 6/24/2014, Baby Bou Bou has been taken out of the medically induced coma and transferred to a new hospital to begin rehabilitation. The hole in his chest has yet to heal, and doctors are still not able to fully assess lasting brain damage.

Alecia Phonesavanh is the mother of Bounkham Phonesavanh, nicknamed "Baby Bou Bou." She and her family live in Atlanta. For more information about Bou Bou, go to www.justiceforbabyboubou.com.

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*

https://www.aclu.org/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-policing

War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police - Report

6/23/2014

All across the country, heavily armed SWAT teams are raiding peoples homes in the middle of the night, often just to search for drugs. It should enrage us that people have needlessly died during these raids, that pets have been shot, and that homes have been ravaged.

Our neighborhoods are not warzones, and police officers should not be treating us like wartime enemies. Any yet, every year, billions of dollars worth of military equipment flows from the federal government to state and local police departments. Departments use these wartime weapons in everyday policing, especially to fight the wasteful and failed drug war, which has unfairly targeted people of color.

As our new report makes clear, its time for American police to remember that they are supposed to protect and serve our communities, not wage war on the people who live in them.

War Without Public Support

Nearly 80% of the SWAT raids the ACLU studied were conducted to serve search warrants, usually in drug cases. With public support for the War on Drugs at an all-time low, police are using hyper-aggressive, wartime tools and tactics to fight a war that has lost its public mandate.

Unnecessary Tragedy

Its not uncommon for SWAT teams to brutalize bystanders in their search for a suspect. One family in Atlanta was woken up in the middle of the night when officers burst into their home and threw a flashbang grenade into the playpen where a toddler was sleeping. This is their story.

Disparate Impact on Communities of Color

It is widely known that policing tactics across the country often unfairly target communities of color. According to our investigation, the use of paramilitary weapons and tactics appears to be no different. These maps show the distribution of SWAT raids by racial composition of neighborhoods in two cities, but this trend is echoed nationwide. Read the complete report for more.

Nationwide Trend

Hyper-aggressive policing wont go away simply by identifying a couple bad apples or dismissing the problem as a few isolated instances. As this map makes clear, excessive militarization is a nationwide trend.

To Serve and Protect, Not to Raid and Ravage

Not every situation requires 20 heavily armed SWAT officers and an armored personnel carrier. And yet, we collected reports of full deployments to homes where no contraband was found, where there was no clear reason for thinking the people inside would be armed or awake, and where children and the elderly were present. We need to ensure that hyper-aggressive tools and tactics are only used in situations where they are truly necessary to protect people. Its also time to push for greater transparency and ensure that the federal government is not incentivizing the militarization of our state and local police.

Take Action

Take action to make sure police are protecting our communities, not invading them.

[Nailthesnail]

To me it feels as though they are almost being trained in a way that would make them be over aggressive and almost completely moral-less.

We are at a point in history were I believe there will be a great collapse or a revolution to change the way we live.

These things are happening more and more and it is not going to slow down soon, We are going deeper and deeper into the palms of these hateful morons and I believe the planet will not sustain this bullshit for much longer.

I feel for these people because there is nothing they can do really. If that guy had reacted against the SWAT because of how they were treating his family he would be murdered. SWAT is looking for a reason to take it next level.

I believe if the cops are gonna be all cut throat to the civilians they should retaliate if the US citizens do not stand up soon there will be nothing they can do when the genocide begins.

They are gearing up for it I mean there is no other logical explanation for the 100's of FEMA camps in USA, there is nothing to stop them if the people stay sleeping.

[CLICKHEREx]

The USA is downsizing it's military, and the many thousands who were in one uniform, often seek another; that of police officer, and I strongly suspect that a disproportionate number end up in SWAT teams.

The military systematically brutalises and dehumanises people, then sends them overseas and unleashes them on the civilians of countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan in searches for insurgents and enemy personnel hiding in the guise of civilians.

On return, with an estimated 40% suffering from mental health disorders, such as PTSD, other anxiety spectrum disorders, and depression.

Their soldiers' disorders are often either untreated, or inadequately treated by their veterans affairs department.

The treatments their VA prescribes are often antidepressants / anxiolytics like Zoloft, Prozac, and Lexapro, which work, if they do, by dulling the emotions, and / or benzodiazepenes to reduce anxiety levels (so they either don't care what happens to the civilians, [the enemy] or that level of concern for them is reduced.

If they are accepted into the police, they retain that military mindset; that the people are either the enemy, or aiding and abetting their actions.

They also push for more powerful weapons, and armoured personnel carriers, and use tactics similar to those that they were previously trained in, and familiar, even comfortable with.

Edited June 26, 2014 by CLICKHEREx

[Nailthesnail]

That is a scary thought to think the people there to help those in need do not have proper morals because the military has completely dehumanized them. That makes sense that they would join swat as they would have similar training and the US Government probably sees them as being the perfect people for the jobs.

I have not put much time into researching the US military and defenses so thanks for giving me a heads up.

That is what I think these psychedelys would be so good for is treating the soldiers, Just imagine it.

Great read cheers CH

[etherealdrifter]

so happy to see you actually respond with your own words clikxhre(i know you have in the past to other articles you have posted)

i'm just saying it's nice to see your words for a change instead of slabs of mountains of cut n paste others - it's good reading.

hazzar!

[waterboy 2.0]

It may well be too late here, we have the templates within police of Special Operations Groups (SOGs) or equivalent.

Those guys get the "good kit and gear", and typically can maintain a veil of anonymity. Those boys get trained hard.....

Really its only going to take a government to see "value in the investment" and build the numbers. If we didn't have the national changes to firearms laws when we did, I'd imagine those numbers would be greater now.

[DiscoStu]

i'm not so sure oz will go down the full militarisation of of police, at least not with the zeal the US has. consider the availability of high powered automatic weapons in america, anyone can rock up to a gun show and buy an AR-10 plus ammo to take home that day without any checks whatsoever. i'm pretty sure the beefing up of the american police state is a response to that sort of arming of the citizens, and this police militarisation ironically causes citizens to arm themselves more, and so on. i mean, would the police feel the need to send in swat teams for civil matters if they didn't think the people they were going to question had an arsenal of high powered weapons and virtually unlimited ammo at their disposal? i'm not saying it's ok, far from it, but america has said to itself "we are on the path of full armament" and i think they have to deal with the consequences of unchecked gun ownership.

more succinctly: if citizens demand they have the right to military style weapons at what point do they think law enforcement will not respond in kind?

Edited June 26, 2014 by bot6

[Snowfella]

Where to start!

Probably best to start from a personal level, yes I am ex army and yes I've been deployed overseas and came home with bagage that I'd rather not have. Simply put I've got "issues" both emotional and physical that your average joe just do not have.

It does not however have anything even remotely to do with morals, I'd say ex-service men have higher morals than just about everyone else. We have it drilled into us from day one to be above the bar when it comes to our behaviour and actions.

"Unfortunately" that also has a downside, we get it drilled into us to look out for the man to our left and right above everything else, he/she is our brother/sister and is who we are fighting for.

That all has it's downsides when it comes to translating from a fighting role into a policing role, as army if I were part of kicking down a door I'd do anything to look out for the guys with me...you even asmuch as hint towards threathening my boys and we have an issue but in policing it has to be the other way around, we are there to protect the general population.

Sure ex-military makes perfect sence when it comes to policing but it also comes with the above problem, we have been trained to look out for the guy next to us, not to safeguard the guys we are hitting, it's not that it's the enemy we are hitting at whatever cost it might bring.

As for the article certain things do pop out.

First would be flashbang into bed/crib, if you don't know how these things work it sounds sinister but flashbangs generally ain't what you think they are..ie single flash and bang to disorient. They are multiple bang/flash things, generally what is used are 7 or 9 bang charges that even if tossed into a safe are can move around between detonations. And I seriously doubt that the guy who tossed into the room aimed for the crib, you generally bounce it along the floor aiming for a back corner of the room as you want the people in the room to follow it with their eyes. They are made to be a distraction so you can enter the room safely.

And it's the US we are talking about, guns are abundant so I would not be doing a no-knock entry without something M16 like in my hands. Again it's not there just so I can "take out" joe blow but as a protection if the fertiliser hits the fan.

Flame suit is on

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

What would you do if one of your boys threw a flash granade into an innocent child's crib and blew his guts open? Would you then be there to protect the innocent parents who weren't even allowed to see there wailing son? Did they give you boys benzos too? Maybe a lot of ex-military get em for PTSD and wind up in the cops too.

[Dreamwalker.]

I kinda take your point Snow.............

But the gear is available now to see into these house's (paper thin facade walls of composite ex. and 10mm gib wall internal) from the street..........ID all the occupants, use a meg speaker from their car, to encourage them all to come outside with their hands in the air.....and nobody gets hurt................the us has the highest incarceration rate in the world for victimless crimes...these fuckwits are willing to kill people just so they can catch them with some so called illegal substance of so called abuse. That's insane and savage. How can they live with themselves "how was your day dear......oh not so bad............I permanently handicap a baby......oh well at least your didn't shoot an un-armed grandfather through the head, while he was lying at gun point on the floor, because you were searching for his daughters unemployed boyfriend who was suspected of selling drugs on the street corner, like you did a few days ago.........TRUE story..................but hey they were black..............white mid class folk get a courtesy phone call or at least a knock on the door...........

The us govt. is just a piece of sh%**t sandwiched between Canada and Mexico, run by gangster like criminal elites who seem to control our patsy government's.....and media............and the fuckers who continue to support this 2 party tyranny they repeated remind us is a democracy (you know tell the lie often enough/brainwashing) ..............and there doesn't seem to be a damn thing we can do about it.........

Edited June 30, 2014 by Dreamwalker

[shortly]

It may well be too late here, we have the templates within police of Special Operations Groups (SOGs) or equivalent.

Those guys get the "good kit and gear", and typically can maintain a veil of anonymity. Those boys get trained hard.....

I kinda wonder about all that "good kit & gear" they wear, won't that just make them a more attractive target?

Times they are a tough, and there would reach a point that the value of all that kit would outweigh the risks of dealing with the meaty bit inside all that kit, one way or another.

Edited June 26, 2014 by shortly

[CLICKHEREx]

Where to start!

Probably best to start from a personal level, yes I am ex army and yes I've been deployed overseas and came home with bagage that I'd rather not have. Simply put I've got "issues" both emotional and physical that your average joe just do not have.

It does not however have anything even remotely to do with morals, I'd say ex-service men have higher morals than just about everyone else. We have it drilled into us from day one to be above the bar when it comes to our behaviour and actions.

"Unfortunately" that also has a downside, we get it drilled into us to look out for the man to our left and right above everything else, he/she is our brother/sister and is who we are fighting for.

That all has it's downsides when it comes to translating from a fighting role into a policing role, as army if I were part of kicking down a door I'd do anything to look out for the guys with me...you even asmuch as hint towards threathening my boys and we have an issue but in policing it has to be the other way around, we are there to protect the general population.

Sure ex-military makes perfect sence when it comes to policing but it also comes with the above problem, we have been trained to look out for the guy next to us, not to safeguard the guys we are hitting, it's not that it's the enemy we are hitting at whatever cost it might bring.

As for the article certain things do pop out.

First would be flashbang into bed/crib, if you don't know how these things work it sounds sinister but flashbangs generally ain't what you think they are..ie single flash and bang to disorient. They are multiple bang/flash things, generally what is used are 7 or 9 bang charges that even if tossed into a safe are can move around between detonations. And I seriously doubt that the guy who tossed into the room aimed for the crib, you generally bounce it along the floor aiming for a back corner of the room as you want the people in the room to follow it with their eyes. They are made to be a distraction so you can enter the room safely.

And it's the US we are talking about, guns are abundant so I would not be doing a no-knock entry without something M16 like in my hands. Again it's not there just so I can "take out" joe blow but as a protection if the fertiliser hits the fan.

Flame suit is on

"ex-military makes perfect sence when it comes to policing but it also comes with the above problem, we have been trained to look out for the guy next to us, not to safeguard the guys we are hitting" - You make a good point, and one that I hadn't yet considered, as well as providing insight into the Australian military.

Although they wouldn't have been aiming at the crib, they should have observed the multiple clues that there may have been infants, or children present, and not have used military tactics. It's impossible to know if they were just lying, after the event, and trying to protect their arses, or they had tunnel vision, and were too hyped up on adrenaline to notice, or even bother to check out the place beforehand before storming the place like an enemy bunker, and the delay of treating the infant's wounds was criminal neglect, in my opinion, and I hope they are held to account over it, and it forces a change in policy there.

Edited June 26, 2014 by CLICKHEREx

[Dreamwalker.]

"I hope they are held to account over it, and it forces a change in policy there."

........will NEVER happen!

[Snowfella]

Just to clarify here, my viewpoint doesn't come from the Australian military. I'm Swedish and did my drafted service plus volountary SFOR deployment to Bosnia before moving down here.