CNN has
updates on the story of the Georgia SWAT team that
threw a flash bang while executing a no-knock warrant that
severely burned a nineteen-month-old baby. Habersham County Sheriff
Joey Terrell says the deputies involved are “devastated” and that
they’ve been called “baby killers” and received threats. “All I can
say is pray for the baby, his family and for us,” the sheriff told
CNN.
Terrell has insisted his officers and those of the local police
department did nothing wrong and
blamed the target of the warrant (not found at the house that
was invaded) on the attack on the toddler. A chief assistant
district attorney for the county, J. Edward Staples, says the
target of the warrant could in fact be charged for the injuries the
sheriff’s deputies caused the toddler. In an obvious attempt to
immunize himself and his office from liability, the sheriff has
claimed the situation was unavoidable even as he attempted to offer
reassurances that his SWAT team would be more diligent in the
future. He told CNN that his officers “obviously would have done
things different” (IF they knew there was a child in the home),
like go in through a side door or not use a flash bang. Until using
violence to crack down on non-violent “crimes” becomes politically
untenable for “public servants,” it won’t matter how much
ass-covering law enforcement does after the fact, these kinds of
incidents will continue to happen.
The toddler’s family, who was staying with a relative at the
home that was attacked after their own home in Wisconsin was burned
down, says they don’t have insurance and have set up a website for donations.
A circuit district attorney is conducting a “review” of the
incident, which should be done next week according to the chief
assistant district attorney. Terrell had previously said neither
the district attorney’s office nor the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation was investigating the incident.
Habersham County Chief Assistant District Attorney J. Edward
Staples said Thonetheva could also be charged in connection with
the baby’s injuries.
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