A Georgia SWAT team will not face charges for disfiguring a toddler after throwing a stun grenade into his playpen, a grand jury decided Monday.
Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh, 19 months old, lost a chunk of his nose after the Habersham SWAT team threw a stun grenade into his playpen by accident during a botched drug raid in May.
Police said they were told to be on guard for a heavy supply of weapons inside the Cornelia, Ga., home. A Habersham County grand jury decided not to indict the officers involved after hearing evidence for six days.
"We are reviewing the grand jury findings with our client," said Mawuli Mel Davis, who represents the Phonesavanh family, according to CBS 46 Atlanta. "They are devastated and trying to comprehend the gravity of this decision and we will discuss this decision in detail. This is a very sad day for this family and for the people of Georgia."
In addition to a detached nose, the toddler lost part of his left nipple, suffered brain damage, severe burns to the face and a collapsed lung, the New York Daily News reported. He had to undergo several cosmetic surgeries to reconstruct his face and spent over five weeks in the hospital.
The Phonesavanh family was staying in Georgia after losing its Wisconsin home to a fire earlier this year. At the time police received a tip that a meth dealer was operating inside the Cornelia home.
The SWAT team arrived outside the home to carry out a no-knock warrant but was blocked from entering due to an unknown obstruction, which turned out to be a playpen.
"The cops busted in the door and threw the grenade without even looking first," Alecia Phonesavanh, the toddler's mother, previously told WWMT-TV. "And it went right in his playpen and exploded on his pillow, right in his face."
While the grand jury agreed that police were rash and careless with their actions, they were still doing their job, CBS 46 reported. Habersham County police later said they were unaware children were present inside the home.
The county agreed to pick up Bou Bou's $800,000 hospital bill but will hold off on that promise pending a lawsuit filed by the boy's family.
