Family says police raided wrong house, injured sick toddler

ELYRIA, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - Police in Elyria, Ohio, issued a statement Friday evening after allegations emerged about a search warrant execution involving a sick child.

A family said they are furious and traumatized after they claim dozens of police officers raided their home for no reason.

The family claims the Elyria Police Department had the wrong house and say they blame the department’s recklessness for putting their toddler in the hospital.

The search happened Wednesday just before 2:15 p.m. at a home on the 300 block of Parmely Avenue.

Police say the search warrant was executed at the correct house.

The Jennings family’s Ring camera captured the moments the Elyria Police Department’s special response team broke down their front door in the middle of the day.

Twenty-five-year-old Courtney Price was staying at her aunt and uncle’s home on Parmely Avenue in Elyria with her 1-year-old son, Waylon May. She and Waylon were the only ones home when she heard a loud bang.

Police say they used diversionary devices known as “flash-bangs” outside the house. The devices produce sound and light, and are intended to distract the suspect.

Police say these devices do not produce burns and do not contain pepper gas or chemical agents.

Police entered the home after repeated announcements and found a woman and her 17-month-old toddler.

Price said she was stunned as she watched Elyria police bust through the front door

“All I seen was lights flashing and smoke coming into the house,” Price said.

The SRT team also busted out two windows, including one where Price’s sick baby was sitting below in his swing. His mother said her baby was covered in glass.

“I didn’t know what to do because there was guns pointed at me,” Price claimed. “I wanted to run to him, but I knew if I ran to him they could’ve shot. One second, everything was normal. Fifteen seconds later, our world was flipped upside down. They drug me out of the house, put me in handcuffs. I kept screaming, ‘My baby, my baby, my baby’s in here!’ I was outside for 35 or 45 minutes while my baby was in here blood red, choking, gasping for air.”

Price said police also threw a flash-bang through the window her son was sitting below. Elyria police deny this.

Waylon was born prematurely. His mother said he has the lung disease pulmonary hypertension. She said he also has an atrial septal defect, which means he has a hole in his heart.

Price said her son was on his ventilator when police came barreling into the home.

She asked police to call an ambulance and they did. He was taken to the hospital and sent home that night, but she says the next morning, his blood oxygen level dropped dangerously low and he was rushed to the hospital.

Paramedics on scene assessed the child and said the 17-month-old did not sustain any apparent injury, according to police.

Price came from Kentucky to stay with her aunt and uncle because her son Waylon was supposed to have open-heart surgery at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital next month. The family said his surgery has now been delayed.

On Friday, he was moved out of the ICU. Price said she does not know when her son will be able to come home from the hospital.

“It hurts me more than anything because he’s fought so hard to get to where he is,” Price said. “He fought for a year to get off the ventilator for 15 hours a day, and now he can’t go off for a split second. His diagnosis is chemical pneumonitis from the chemicals in the flash-bang where he was left in here for 35 to 45 minutes, laying there inhaling the chemicals.”

Police released a statement regarding the incident.

“Any allegation suggesting the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true. The investigation that led to the affidavit to obtain a search warrant for 331 Parmely Ave. in Elyria, Ohio remains active and ongoing. As the investigation progresses, additional details will be released to the public,” Lt. Bill Lantz, of the Elyria Police Department’s Investigative Division, said.

WOIO obtained the search warrant from the incident, but they are not naming the suspect because he is reportedly 14. The search warrant said police were looking for firearms involved in a burglary.

Redia Jennings and her husband have rented the home for the past year. She said the police knew the person they were looking for didn’t live there, but she said he does not live at their home and hasn’t lived there in more than a year.

Jennings said his family now lives down the block. She was asked how many times police have looked for the teenager at the house before.

“About five, it’s been about five times,” Jennings replied. “There’s been several detectives looking for him, CPS and the truant officer.”

Elyria police maintained the address on the search warrant was correct.

“All of our furniture was broke,” Jennings said. “It’s stained. They just walked all over everything. There’s nothing that was not unturned in my house. They even broke my stove.”

Jennings said they also need medical supplies, wipes and diapers for Waylon.

“Everything we had is ruined,” Jennings said. “It’s all gone. His clothes were stomped on and he really needs a sterile environment.”

Elyria police said the investigation that led to this search warrant is ongoing.

The family said they’re moving to a new home in Garfield Heights, Ohio, next week because they don’t feel safe anymore.

They also plan to take legal action against the department.

Copyright 2024 WOIO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.