Georgia County Refuses To Pay Medical Bills For Toddler Nearly Killed By SWAT Stun Grenade

Alecia Phonesavanh and Bounkham Phonesavanh, Sr., parents of Baby Bou Bou (from the ACLU's Flickr feed)
Alecia Phonesavanh and Bounkham Phonesavanh, Sr., parents of Baby Bou Bou (from the ACLU’s Flickr feed)

You may recall that back in May, a meth raid on a house in Cornelia, Georgia went horribly wrong when two-year-old Bounkham ?Bou Bou? Phonesavanh was nearly killed by a stun grenade that landed in his playpen and exploded in his face. Bou Bou had his face burned and his chest blown open by the force of the blast, and spent almost two months recuperating before being released in July. As outrageous as that is, this tragedy was completely preventable. Even a cursory amount of surveillance before the raid would have revealed that there were kids there. Moreover, Bou Bou’s mother, Alecia, and father, Bounkham Sr., told CNN that there was a Pack and Play playpen that would have been in clear view of the SWAT team that threw the grenade. It wouldn’t have taken two seconds for the team to radio back and say, “Wait a minute, we may have kids here.” And because they didn’t take those two seconds, a little boy almost died.

Now, to add obscenity on top of insult and injury, WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that officials in Habersham County, who coordinated the raid along with Cornelia police early on the morning of May 28, are not willing to pay the Phonesavanhs’ medical bills. Bou Bou spent one month in a medically-induced coma at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and another month rehabbing at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta before returning to Wisconsin with his mother, father and three sisters. They had originally come to Cornelia, an hour north of Atlanta, to stay with Bounkham’s sister after their house in Wisconsin burned down. While he is recovering fairly well, family attorney Mawuli Davis told WSB-TV’s Erin Coleman that Habersham County officials reneged on what his clients believed to be a promise to help cover over $500,000 in medical bills.

 
Habersham County attorney Donnie Hunt released a statement saying that the county commissioners deliberated the issue, and concluded that the county could not legally pay those expenses. Davis isn’t buying it, and with good reason. Cornelia police and Habersham County deputies obtained a no-knock warrant for Wanis Thoneteva, Bou Bou’s cousin, based on concerns that Thoneteva was armed. That warrant was obtained on the word of an informant who never entered the house. Had he done so, he would have discovered toys and children’s clothes. Small wonder that an independent investigation commissioned by the Phonesavanhs’ legal team concluded that the warrant was based on faulty information. Indeed, later on Thoneteva was found at another house with about an ounce of meth and no weapons.

But even without this colossal snafu, Bou Bou would have still come out of this uninjured had the SWAT team seen the Pack and Play. According to Alecia and Bounkham, Sr., it was no more than two feet from the door–meaning it should have been in clear view of the officer who threw the grenade. In a gut-wrenching op-ed for Salon, Alecia wrote that the officers wasted precious seconds rummaging through the house even though it should have been obvious Bou Bou was gravely injured. In that time, Bou Bou could have died.

Maybe it’s just me, but it sounds like the Habersham County commission has some REALLY bad lawyers advising it. After all, it shouldn’t take a law degree to know that there were not just one, but TWO, outrageous acts of negligence here. The informant didn’t make any effort to make sure children would be endangered, and the SWAT team moved forward with its original plan even though it was obvious there were children there. It’s outrageous enough that even though the Georgia Board of Investigation is still looking into how this was handled, Davis says that the Phonesavanhs “have to move forward with a lawsuit.” If it is indeed true that Georgia law doesn’t allow Habersham County to pay part of Bou Bou’s medical expenses–and I find that hard to believe–it’s past time for that law to be changed. If it isn’t, then the only questions should be how big a settlement Bou Bou will win–and how many people will be on the unemployment line.

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Darrell Lucus.jpg Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.