When Local Police Become A “Standing Army”

“A SWAT team blew a hole in my 2 year-old son.”

A toddler was put in a medically induced coma and hospitalized for more than a month after a Cornelia, Georgia, SWAT team tossed a flash-bang grenade into his crib during the execution of a “no-knock” warrant.

Bounkham Phonesavanh was 19 months old and was asleep in his crib when police broke down the front door of the residence he was in in the early morning hours on May 28 and threw the grenade into the front room. His mother, father, and three sisters were in the room as well.

In May, the baby’s mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, described the ordeal in detail, including the relevant account of the near-fatal blurring of the line between soldier and cop:

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. It’s been three weeks since the flashbang exploded next to my sleeping baby, and he’s still covered in burns.

As civil unrest engulfs Ferguson, Missouri, and police patrol the streets in armored personnel vehicles and confront unarmed citizens while wearing riot gear like something out of Robocop, headlines from around the country relate similar stories of cops training like, dressing like, and acting like soldiers.

“23 Police Officers Fire 377 Bullets at Two Men With Zero Guns” is the headline of an article by Conor Friedersdorf published inThe Atlantic. Friedersdorf goes on to recount the unbelievable behavior of Miami law enforcement in pursuit of a suspect:

The local CBS affiliate has investigated a police shooting that happened there last December. The results are jaw-dropping. A man who committed armed robbery and shot a police officer hours earlier was spotted in his automobile, along with a passenger who played no role in his crime. Police officers gave chase.

CBS reports what happened next:

The suspect’s blue Volvo crashed into the backyard of a townhouse.

It was later determined that neither the suspect nor the passenger was armed. Police officers nevertheless fired two barrages of bullets into the vehicle. Witnesses say that after the first volley of approximately 50 bullets, the two men were still alive.

Anthony Vandiver, who lives in a building adjacent to the lot, saw the incident. “They were saying put your hands up, and the guys were still moving after they shot maybe 50, 60 times,” he said. “And the guy tried to put his hands up. And as soon as he put his hands up, it erupted again. And that was it for them. That guy tried his best to give up. I swear to God on everything I love, my kids, my momma, everything, I seen it all.”

Roughly two minutes passed between volleys.

After the second volley both men were dead. Said another witness: “The policemen that had on the black and white vests were out there laughing like it was so funny.”

In another part of the country, cops stormed a house wearing masks covering their faces, dressed in military special forces-style black uniforms and battle helmets. They busted down the door using a battering ram, then rushed the occupants, seizing and breaking one camera and preventing another from recording the remarkable scene.

What was the heinous violent crime with which the intended target of the raid was charged? Murder? Rape?

Credit card fraud.

This is the incredible, incomprehensible story told by Washington Post civil liberties blogger Radley Balko in his February 4 opinion piece, “Scenes from a militarized America: Iowa family ‘terrorized.’” Balko’s story includes a video of the incident. Regarding the police department’s response, Balko explained:

Finally, note that police department officials say they “do not have a written policy governing how search warrants are executed.” That’s inexcusable. Most police departments do. But whether or not they’re governed by a formal policy, the use of these kinds of tactics for nonviolent crimes like credit card fraud is hardly unusual, and it’s happening more often, not less. I’ve reported on jurisdictions where all felony search warrants are now served with a SWAT team. At least one federal appeals court has now ruled that under the Fourth Amendment, there’s nothing unreasonable about using a SWAT team to perform regulatory inspections. To be fair, two others have ruled that such tactics are not reasonable. But it’s concerning that this would even be up for debate. We have plenty of discussion and analysis about when searches are appropriate. We also need to start talking about how.

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