Police in Ohio, searching for a teenager on gun charges, raided the wrong home, seriously injuring a 17-month-old special needs boy with a heart defect.
The incident took place at around 2.15pm on Wednesday when a swarm of officers from the Elyira Police Special Response Team entered the house on Parmely Avenue. The raid was captured on a ring camera.
Reida Jennings’ niece, Courtney Price, 25, and her 17-month-old son, Waylon May, were visiting from Kentucky and staying at her home. The toddler was awaiting open heart surgery scheduled for next month.
During the arrest, Price said the officers threw two stunners through the window. The shells hit near her son, who was sitting on a swing near the window, covering him in glass and smoke.
The terrified mother told Fox8 News that guns were pointed at her and that she feared she would be shot if she ran toward her child. “One second everything was normal, fifteen seconds later our world turned upside down,” she remembers.
Authorities in the city, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Cleveland, said the raid was part of an investigation — reportedly looking for a teenager on weapons charges. Police claimed that the devices used, called ‘distraction devices’, do not cause burns and do not contain pepper gas or chemicals.
The suspect was not found in the home.
A horrific ordeal took place in Ohio when a swarm of officers from the Elyira Police Special Response Team burst through the door of Reida Jennings’ home on Parmely Avenue looking for a suspect.
Waylon May, 17 months, was injured in the raid when the Elyira Police Special Response Team raided the home. He is in a children’s hospital in the intensive care unit being treated for “chemical pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs and irritation of the lungs and soft tissue surrounding the lungs,” according to his mother, Courtney Price.
The baby was sitting on a swing when dozens of officers burst through the door of the Parley Avenue home last Wednesday, reportedly throwing two grenades and seriously injuring the baby.
Price was handcuffed and then dragged out of the house as she begged police to help her son.
‘I kept screaming, my baby, my baby! He’s on a ventilator, my baby is here!,” she said.
Price said officers told her “not to worry about my baby,” telling the news station she was held outside for nearly 45 minutes while her sick and injured baby was in the house.
She described his condition as “blood red, choking, gasping for air.”
Elyira police said in a statement that tThe warrant and subsequent raid by the Elyria Police Special Response Team are part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Authorities claimed they announced themselves before breaking into the house.
During the tactical operation, police said two distraction devices, commonly known as a ‘flash-bang, were deployed outside the home,” police said in a statement.
“These devices produce sound and light that can be heard both day and night and are intended to distract the suspect’s attention,” police said.
‘Derivation equipment does not cause continuous combustion and does not contain or use pepper gas or chemicals.’
Police say the child’s mother informed officers that the child had a pre-existing medical condition.
They said detectives from the Elyria Police Department, Elyria Fire Department and the mother assessed the child’s condition and confirmed the child had no visible injuries.
Police alleged that the child’s mother informed detectives that she planned to take the child to the hospital due to the child’s pre-existing illness unrelated to the tactical operation, but that she did not have a car seat available pre-carriage.
To assist, officials said Elyria Police Department detectives called Lifecare Ambulance to the scene to provide any medical assistance EMS deemed necessary.
Lifecare Paramedics arrived on scene and medics assessed the child. They then took the child to a nearby hospital.
The child was released later that day, but Price said her son had to be rushed to the hospital the next day due to low blood oxygen levels.
Price said her son was born weighing one pound, two ounces, and has dealt with a series of ailments since birth, including lung disease, pulmonary hypertension and an atrial septal defect known as a hole in his heart.
She said her child had begun to make some health progress before the incident, but is now fighting to survive the new trauma he has endured.
A scene of the officers outside the house on the ring camera
The baby in the ICU. Price said before the incident, her child had begun to make some health progress, but is now fighting to survive the new trauma he has endured.
“He has chemical pneumonia, which is an inflammation of the lungs and irritation of the lungs and the soft tissue around the lungs,” she told the news station.
He would do so in February underwent open heart surgery at Rainbow Babies, but the family said his surgery has now been postponed.
Price’s aunt, who was working at the time of the ambush, said that when she saw the special response team break down her door, she feared for her niece and the baby who she said were alone.
“As they’re banging on the door, they throw the flash through the window and it goes over the top and hits the baby,” she said. “The baby is covered in glass.”
She said Waylon, who is now in intensive care, has burns all over and the lining of his lungs is burned.
“He’s already a special needs baby. He’s a trach baby. He was on a ventilator and they left the baby there in the smoke for about 35 to 45 minutes,” Jennings said.
She said police had been to the house at least five times looking for the same suspect.
“They were looking for a teenager, as far as I know… When they told me the boy’s name, it sounded familiar because they had been here five times in the last year looking for that family and that boy,” said Jennings on the news. exhaust pipe.
The owner of the home suspects that the person the police are looking for may be a former tenant of a previous owner of the home.
Both Price and Jennings want accountability and an explanation as to why the house was robbed.
Jennings said they are concerned about the baby and his upcoming surgery. “Yesterday he stopped breathing,” she said in part.
“He was waiting for open heart surgery, that’s why he’s here. That’s why he’s at my house. She is from Pikeville, Kentucky. She’s been here a week.
“It took them 17 months of what this baby fought for to get to where he is today, and now he’s back to square one.”