Alecia and Bounkham Phonesavanh filed a federal lawsuit last week against Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell for damages incurred after police severely burned their child, Bounkham Phonesavanh, with a flash grenade.
The incident occurred last May, as a Habersham County SWAT team stormed the Phonesavanh residence, looking for a relative suspected of dealing methamphetamine. That relative had not lived in the home for weeks.
One of the flash grenades used in the raid landed in Bounkham’s — or as the family calls him, Bou Bou — crib and nearly killed him.
Bou Bou was put into a medically induced coma for a month because of life-threatening injuries to his face and chest. The family incurred $1.6 million in medical bills that are not being covered by the county. The family hopes to be compensated for these bills through the lawsuit.
— Dan Sanchez (@DanSanchezV) June 20, 2014
“He’s in the burn unit. We go up to see him and his whole face is ripped open. He has a big cut on his chest,” Phonesavanh told local news station WSB at the time.
Long after waking from his coma, Bou Bou’s mother told ProPublica that he often wakes up screaming.
“It almost seems like he’s remembering what happened,” she said.
An October grand jury failed to indict the officers involved in the raid. “Some of what contributed to this tragedy can be attributed to well-intentioned people getting in too big a hurry,” the grand jury wrote.
“These officers should not continue to work as law officers. They should be held criminally responsible for their actions,” family attorney Mawuli Davis told WSB in June.
Since the incident, Georgian lawmakers have made a few efforts to reform the practice of “no-knock” raids in the state. Democratic Senator Vincent Fort introduced legislation he called “Bou Bou’s Law,” which would require stricter conditions for SWAT units to enter a home.
Republican Representative Kevin Tanner introduced a similar bill that limits the time of day such a raid could be performed.
While the bills are commendable, many say they don’t go far enough, and that neither bill would have necessarily prevented the events that led to the infant’s injuries.
Flashbangs produce a loud noise and bright light to disorient targets in the vicinity. Many equate the use of flash grenades with the increasing problem of police militarization in police departments across the United States. Such issues came to the forefront following protests against police brutality in Ferguson and New York. Police responded to crowds with what many saw as excessive force, using military-grade riot gear and armored vehicles.
