Elyria police release bodycam footage of a raid that injured a 17-month-old toddler
By: Police body camera footage was released Tuesday evening, showing an Elyria police house raid that family members say left a 17-month-old toddler hospitalized last week.
The mayor of Elyria has ordered a full investigation into Wednesday’s incident, calling the allegations against the police department extreme and deeply concerning.
Multiple videos show SWAT officers entering and searching the home, where Courtney Price and her 17-month-old son Waylon were staying with Price’s aunt, Reida Jennings.
“Police search warrant, come to the door! Police search warrant, come to the door!” an officer yelled outside the Parmely Avenue home in released video.
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Video shows police use a flash-bang grenade at the home, shattering a window and knocking in the front door. A woman inside is heard screaming before coming out of the home with her hands up, saying her baby was inside on a ventilator.
The family told FOX 8 the flash-bang injured the baby, who was staying at the home awaiting surgery for a heart defect.
Police said flash bangs were detonated outside the home and the baby was not exposed to any chemical agents, but the family said the grenade caused burns to the toddler’s lungs.
Another video shows officers handcuffing the child’s mother out on the front lawn.
Price said police did not give her baby care fast enough and would not let her go to him for 40 minutes while she was handcuffed outside.
Elyria police say they called an ambulance to the scene to provide medical attention to the baby. Police say any allegations of chemical exposure or lack of medical care are false.
After releasing several bodycam videos on the City of Elyria YouTube channel, the mayor said while the footage shows what did and didn’t happen during the incident, “it does not answer questions of what led to the warrant itself. To answer those questions, I have also requested an external investigation.”
The family said the person police were looking for is a past tenant of a past owner. They said they had told police that the last five times they came to the house searching for him.
The family says Waylon has been recovering at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.