ELYRIA, Ohio — Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker says the city plans to release body camera video of the controversial police raid at a Parmely Avenue home by the end of the day Tuesday.
On Jan. 10, Elyria police's Special Response Team (SRT) raided a house on the 300 block of Parmely Avenue "as part of an ongoing investigation."
During the operation, police state 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.
Courtney 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.
"You can hear me scream," Price told WKYC of another video from next door. "I think I just said, 'I'm scared.' I said, 'My baby's in here. He's on a a ventilator.'"
According to Price, Waylon was born prematurely and has special needs, and his oxygen was nearby as he sat in his rocker next to his crib. She further claims she was handcuffed as she asked for her child while smoke filled the room.
"I remember seeing the flash and seeing the smoke come in," she said. "And you can see it on the Ring footage, too."
Price also asserts one of the officers told her they had raided the wrong house after it was over. In a statement, Elyria police said the raid was conducted at the correct home and added that diversionary devices like flash-bang do not produce a continuous burn, and they do not deploy or contain any pepper gas or chemical agents.
"Any allegation suggesting the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true," Elyria Police Lieutenant Bill Lantz declared in the department's release about the incident.
However, 3News found documents that only add to the confusion. We confirmed that the Parmely address was indeed on the warrant, but it was issued for a teen who hasn't lived there in over a year.
Police raided it anyway, even though it is now rented by Price's aunt and uncle Redia and Marlon Jennings. Both are adamant they have no relation to the suspect whatsoever.
"I walked in my house, and I was just... [I] couldn't believe it," Redia said. "I don't like anything being on my kitchen table, so you could imagine [with] everything being piled up on the floor, and just everything was overturned — the beds, the TVs, everything."
Price says Waylon has been moved out of the ICU at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, but is being treated for inflammation of the lungs and irritation of the eyes, along with the lingering effects of smoke. The child's mother brought him to the Cleveland area for heart surgery, but she says that has now been delayed.
"We came here for a fresh start, and now I just feel so unsafe here," Price lamented. "I'm just trying to tough it out and stay for better care, but I just do not like being here now. It's really hard."
On Saturday, Brubaker announced his office has ordered a complete review of the incident. He says video footage from several officers' body cameras will be made available to the public Tuesday.
"The serious and disturbing nature of the allegations concerns all Elyrians. Our residents demand to know what occurred, and rightfully so," he wrote in a release issued on Monday evening. "Thankfully, our City had the technology to record events in real time via many body-worn cameras throughout the entirety of the incident. I’m particularly grateful these cameras captured clear audio and video, from several angles. I am eager to release this footage for all of you to view."
As for Redia, she only wishes police would've done their homework before crashing into her home, where her nephew is already fighting for his life.
"I feel like a little bit of detective work probably would've went a long way," she said, "because [I conducted] a simple Google search and I found the previous tenants in about six seconds."
As Waylon continues to recover, you can read more and make a donation in the family's GoFundMe here.
