ELYRIA, Ohio — An Elyria family has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the city, police chief, and officers who were involved in a controversial house raid that happened in January.
In the court filing obtained by 3News Senior Crime and Justice Correspondent Lydia Esparra, Courtney Price and her sister Redia Jennings are suing the city of Elyria, Police Chief William Pelko, and at least 11 officers of the police department for the following:
- Unreasonable search and seizure
- Unlawful use of excessive force
- Willful and wanton misconduct, deliberate indifference/gross negligence
- Municipal liability; unlawful custom, policy or practice
- False imprisonment
- Assault
- Battery
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress
- Negligent infliction of emotional distress
The plaintiffs are asking for a total of $750,000 in damages, plus court costs and "all other relief the Court considers appropriate, fair, and equitable."
CASE HISTORY
On Jan. 10, Elyria police's Special Response Team (SRT) raided a house in the 300 block of Parmely Avenue "as part of an ongoing investigation."
During the operation, police stated they used two "flash-bang" devices outside of the house to divert the attention of people inside. Ring doorbell camera footage obtained by 3News shows officers shouting multiple times for anyone inside the home to come to the door before throwing the grenade, and the video goes dark.
Price was in the house at the time with her 17-month-old son, Waylon, and says smoke from the flash-bang devices entered the home and caused the toddler, who was on a ventilator, to be subjected to fumes. She added that the baby needed to be hospitalized with what she described as "burned eyes, burned chest, burned arm, burned neck" as well as a lack of oxygen. Elyria police strongly denied the toddler had been exposed to chemical irritants and asserted he had been given proper medical attention.
According to the lawsuit, Waylon was taken to first to UH St. John Medical Center for treatment before being transferred to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit "due to the urgency of his condition." He stayed in the hospital for 10 days, also requiring "exploratory surgery for a ruptured eardrum sustained as a direct and proximate cause of the flash bang and its toxic smoke."
Price further stated an officer told her his team had gone to the wrong house, something police also said wasn't true. But during her Jan. 16 report, Esparra examined the Ring doorbell video from the home itself. While the camera had been damaged by the battering ram and flash-bang, the audio kept rolling, and one officer can be heard clearly stating, "Whoa, it's the wrong house." Another answers, "I think so."
"Prior to the raid, they knew, or should have known, that the suspect did not live at the premises. Indeed, they had even been informed of that fact on at least three separate occasions. As a result, they obtained an unjustified warrant and unlawfully raided the house," the lawsuit states.
Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker ordered an external review of the incident. "Given the extreme nature of the allegations, I want all remaining questions answered transparently and independently," he wrote in a statement after the body camera footage was released.
The Lorain County Sheriff's Office conducted the review and put out a report in June stating that police did have probable cause to obtain a search warrant at the Parmely home. "The address was confirmed by detectives through three different sources prior to the application for the warrant," Maj. Richard Bosley wrote in the Sheriff's office report.
It turned out that Elyria police were raiding the house to located evidence in connection with a burglary and firearms investigation involving a 12-year-old suspect. The suspect had apparently told police that his address was "331 Parmely" when he was arrested at his school shortly before the raid.
After the raid, the suspect indicated that he and his family had moved from that location in Nov. 2023 and now lived at "163 Parmely."
"This report confirms the Elyria Police Department properly followed their policies and procedures, as well as the law," Brubaker wrote in a statement. You can read the full report below.