Parents Of Baby Bou-Bou Say SWAT Raid Crippled Their Family
BY Herschel Smith
12 years, 3 weeks ago
The parents of a little boy critically injured when a police grenade landed in his crib are speaking exclusively with Channel 2 Action News.
They’re talking about a grand jury’s decision not to press charges against any of the deputies involved in the accident.
Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh has been following story for months.
She traveled 800 miles to the boy’s new in Janesville, Wisconsin, where the family says they will continue to fight for justice.
The family told Kavanaugh that they felt like victims all over again when a grand jury announced they would not file criminal charges. They have been home in Wisconsin since July. Much has happened in the case since they left Georgia.
The family says they don’t believe the grand jury got the full story.
“It’s a relief to know we still have him alive,” his mother, Alicia Phonesavanh, said.
Two-year-old Bounkahm Phonesvanh, also known as baby “Bou-Bou,” is happy and energetic.
The toddler was burned and disfigured May 28 when a police grenade exploded in his crib during a mistaken SWAT raid on a Habersham County home.
“We want justice. We want fair justice for our family,” Alicia Phonesavanh said.
Alicia Phonesvanh and Bounkahm Phonesvanh said they feel a grand jury denied them that justice when they declined to criminally prosecute any of the deputies involved.
“The grand jury should have known the real, whole truth story before they make decision,” Bounkahm Phonesavanh, the boy’s father, said. “We read the report and when we had read that the grand jury had stated our children were in danger from the moment we moved in, my mind was blown. That’s a complete fabrication.”
The family doesn’t believe the jurors got the whole story.
“When we first saw him, I thought he was going to die,” Alicia Phonesavanh said.
Alicia Phonesvanh says that was five hours after the explosion.“They had taken my son away in an ambulance without us knowing. They had told my husband and I, ‘Your son is fine. He lost a tooth,’” Alicia Phonesavanh said.
Bou-Bou was burned and disfigured.
“It wasn’t a drug house. That’s why they didn’t find any drugs, no weapons, no suspects,” Alicia Phonesavanh said. “They’ve crippled my family physically; they’ve crippled my family emotionally. They’re crippling us financially.”
The family says Bou-Bou will have to have surgeries every couple of years because he has so much scar tissue.
They say doctors will also have to monitor his brain because he suffered a traumatic injury.
Queue it up. No accountability even from the public via a grand jury, lies at the time of the raid (“He lost a tooth”), failed goals from the raid, a baby almost blown up, lies and coverup by officers of the court during the presentation of facts (i.e., the lawyers), and financially crippled innocent victims.
There you have it – that sounds about right for our corrupt and worthless criminal justice system.
Prior: Grand Jury Recommends No Charges In Georgia Police Raid That Severely Injured Toddler
Virtually EVERY jurisdiction in America will have the DA responsible for the job of impaneling the grand jury. That means that virtually EVERY DA in America will select members for the group that will think and act as he wishes. Anyone expecting justice from such a body is delusional.
It’s not the cops who should be held accountable in this situation. It’s the people who signed off on the raid, and the DA who ran the jury.
No, they’re ALL responsible. ESPECIALLY the cops. No one forced them to toss a flash bang grenade in a home. No one.
The cops have the ultimate responsibility in exercising good judgement and behaving in morally responsible ways. They should be held accountable for their actions criminally and civilly. Their unions should be dismantled and their weapons budgets gutted. Civil asset forfeiture should be ruled unconstitutional and departments should have to account for every penny they spend and undergo extensive, regular audits.
This will never happen because they’re the “only ones.”
This is my shocked face.
The only justice that will be received will be in the form of a lawsuit. Using an Attorney that hates the current regime and isn’t a part of the old boy system that exists nearly everywhere.
So tell me how that works…. they are all members of the same club the American Bar Association. This is the same ABA that has converted our Common Law into the Civil Law. As Blackstone states the Common Law is akin to God’s Law or Natural Law. The law of the continent is the Commercial Law or the Roman Civil Law. So lets visit the roman Civil Law, sounds civil enough, right? It was the law that the Romans used on conqured people. Jesus was subject to the Civil Law. As such he could be condemned by a word from Pilot. Paul was a citizen and not only could he NOT be scourged without a trial they had to send him to rome for the trial. So who is the ABA, every attorney and judge in the united States. Look up Felix Frankfurter and Louis Brandeis on the WIKI Site. These dyed in the wool red communists were educated around the turn of the century, one at Yale the other at Harvard. So tell me just what type of education do you think these boys got from our most prestigious schools?? The ABA consideres common law to be judge made law, I know I went to an ABA certified school. That is their definition. Funny reading the Constitution I don’t see judges in the legislative branch…. how about you???? Marbury v Madison John Marshall said that every judge is bound by the Constitution. “[E]very act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.” Chief Justice John Marshall Did you read the absurd statement of the DC Circuit when it said that Obamacare being initiated in the Senate and no the House is allowed in spite of the plain language of the Constitution??? I, you, we are all putting our faith in a system that was perveted a long time ago. If you think these silly SOBs will give back one iota of a degree of the authority that they have seized you have no concept of human nature and you are without any understanding of history. Jeus pronounced a “Woe upon ye attorneys”… It is a curse. Because they put great burdens upon the people and they would not carry it themselves, does our congress grant themselves leave to violate the laws it uses on us or exempt themselves from??? Here is one, anyone who encourages an illegal alien to remain in thsi country is guilty of a Felony-five years. Did you know tht the Constitution states in plain language that regardless of their… Read more »
Too bad that a lawsuit costs so much. Think in terms of hundreds of thousands of dollars to sue any government entity. The lawsuit will typically encompass about ten years minimum. So, there is no justice. Most people can’t afford to sue a government entity.
The only actual justice would be if their attorney could present the evidence to a grand jury.
Not to mention the “no bill” from the grand jury will be presented as evidence during a civil lawsuit – evidence of no wrongdoing.
Not only did the grand jury fail to deliver justice, it made the road to justice that much harder. I want to say I’m surprised at the prosecutor’s fractionated portrayal of the story, but I’m not; he/she is on the same side as the police and any culpability cast on them falls on him/her as well, immunity or no immunity. There’s no doubt in my mind he/she threw a softball at the grand jury so that they would be inclined to return a no-bill. If anyone else had tossed that grenade – flash-bang or not – you know the prosecutor would be throwing everything they have to get an indictment.
Just a sign of the times. Prepare accordingly.
Until someone other than a prosecutor brings evidence before a grand jury, this will continue. Because the prosecutor works for the municipality, he also has the duty to defend any civil action brought against the municipality or any agency thereof.
Thus, there is an obvious conflict of interest in prosecuting a deputy, since the same prosecutor will have to defend any subsequent civil action resultant.
I’ve beat the drum about this – no point on going on about it further.
The cops, the sign off on the warrant, and now the DA should all be held accountable. This police night raids on non-violent offenders must stop now or even sooner. You can bet the people in the house were not allowed to testify. What ever happened to 2 cops going to the house and knocking? Good thing the people did not have a dog. He would be dead.