After a 2-year-old boy was left maimed from a flash-bang grenade, a Georgia senator is hoping to pass new legislation that makes it harder for police to execute dangerous surprise raids in the state.
Bou Bou Phonesavanh, before and after a flash bang grenade exploded in his crib during a drug raid.
Phonesavanh family
A Georgia senator is seeking to make it harder for law enforcement to obtain the controversial "no-knock" warrants used to burst in on criminal suspects by surprise.
The bill, introduced during Georgia's legislative session on Friday, Jan. 23, by Democratic Sen. Vincent Fort, would require investigators to establish probable cause before obtaining a "no-knock" warrant to raid a residence, the same standard used to secure the warrant in the first place. Currently, an officer seeking permission to execute a no-knock warrant need only have "reasonable suspicion" that a no-knock entry is necessary, the same standard police use to execute a stop-and-frisk.
"For example, reasonable suspicion, you saw one drug deal go on at the house. Probable cause might be where you conduct surveillance over a period of time. You observe a series of drug deals," Fort explained to BuzzFeed News.
Senator Fort is calling his bill "Bou Bou's Law," named after Bou Bou Phonesavanh, the 2-year-old boy who was maimed by a flash-bang grenade explosion when police raided his family's Cornelia, Georgia, residence on May 28, 2014. The explosion left Bou Bou's face and chest badly disfigured and he spent a month and a half in a Georgia hospital fighting for his life. The Phonesavanh family ended up with more than a million dollars in medical expenses because of Bou Bou's injuries.
On the night of the raid, police were attempting to arrest Wanis Thonetheva, the nephew of Bou Bou's father, on drug charges. Thonetheva was apprehended a few hours later at a house down the street without incident — the officers just knocked on the door. When Thonetheva answered, he was taken into custody without a struggle.
Following the incident, a grand jury cleared the officers involved in the botched raid of any and all wrongdoing. The raid is currently under federal investigation by the office of acting U.S. Attorney John Horn.
Habersham County Sheriff's Deputy Nikki Autry, the officer who was responsible for obtaining the no-knock warrant, resigned after it was determined that the information she wrote in the affidavit was false. Autry had claimed that there were armed guards at Bou Bou's residence, weapons inside the home, and that there were no children inside the house. All of those claims proved to be wrong.
Fort says his bill will also include a penalty for officers who lie in order to obtain a warrant.
"In this case, it appears as if the officer who went to the magistrate lied. That is, they said there were armed guards at the location, drug dealing going on, weapons at the house, all of that. All of which was not true," Fort told BuzzFeed News.
The Phonesavanhs' lawyer, Mawuli Davis, says that their investigators have proof that documents used in this case were "fabricated." And they are a holding on to hope that a federal investigation will bring criminal charges against officers responsible for the raid that maimed Bou Bou.
The U.S. Attorney's office said they could not comment at this time because the investigation is ongoing.
Phonesavanh Family
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