A few days ago, the news went viral of how SWAT team officers injured a two-year-old child with a flashbang grenade while executing a raid in Georgia. With the recent onslaught of public outrage over the incident, the local police department might never live down this catastrophe. We interviewed the Habersham County Sheriff George Jones on the situation and asked him if he thought that the police’s reputation could ever be salvaged.
“Well, all I can say is that when we issued the warrant out on young Bou Bou we had no intention of causing him any harm,” says Jones. He added, “We didn’t arrive thinking, ‘today I’m gonna blow up a baby.’ We had a plan and that plan was not executed perfectly. Again, it wasn’t just that we felt like blowing up a baby; we had a right to be cautious with Bou Bou.”
Apparently, the Habersham police department received a tip-off from a confidential source saying that Bou Bou had been connected with with some shady dealings, including one that had happened earlier that morning during a so-called “play date.” Allegedly, there was an exchange between him and another infant involving Monopoly money and enhanced play devices, commonly known in the infant community as “toys.” Baby formulas might also have been involved.
When asked whether the amount of firepower used in the raid was entirely necessary, Jones stated, “He was a registered squirt-gun owner, so we went in with full force. It’s standard protocol to just sort of run into a room and throw grenades everywhere.” This statement was surprising, given that the only grenade that was detonated in the toddler’s house exploded a couple of inches from his face.
“What happened to Bou Bou was regrettable, and we have definitely learned from this ordeal,” reflects Jones. “The next time we set out to arrest a toddler we will definitely use more caution.”
