A former Georgia sheriff’s deputy has been indicted by a federal grand jury over allegedly lying to a judge to justify a May 2014 SWAT raid that left a toddler badly injured after police threw a stun grenade into the child’s playpen.
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Former Habersham County Deputy Nikki Autry, 29, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of providing false information in a search warrant affidavit, Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn said.
The lawsuit asks for a jury trial and seeks damages, including for physical injuries, emotional pain and suffering, medical bills and alleged violations of their constitutional and civil rights. Based on the false information, the FBI says, a judge issued a “no knock” warrant for the arrest of Wanis Thometheva.
There was no probable cause for the no-knock warrant or to search the Phonesavanh home for drugs. “And in this case, the consequences of the unlawful search were tragic”, Horn said on Wednesday. She added that she had personally “confirmed that there is heavy traffic in and out of the residence”.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, along with Habersham County law enforcement and prosecutors in northeast Georgia, have revamped drug-enforcement operations to prevent such incidents, said a GBI official quoted in the news release.
Autry’s attorney said the federal government is ignoring the grand jury’s findings and said his client is not to blame for the toddler’s injuries. The confidential informant was newly minted and therefore had no track record, and it was his roommate who claimed to have bought meth from Thonetheva. According to a report released by the libertarian Cato Institute in 2006 entitled “Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America”, over the past 30 years, SWAT deployments nationwide have exploded from under 3,000 a year to over 40,000. Shortly afterwards, Autry presented an affidavit to a Habersham County magistrate judge falsely swearing that the NCIS informant made the purchase and that the NCIS informant was “a true and reliable informant who has provided information in the past that has led to criminal charges on individuals selling narcotics in Habersham County”. The front door was partially blocked by a playpen, and one officer lobbed a flash-bang grenade – a device intended to subdue uncooperative suspects or break up street protests -into the doorway.
Former Habersham County Deputy Nikki Autry, who arranged the botched SWAT raid, is also being charged with providing false information to obtain an arrest warrant. The toddler and his family had been staying at the residence for approximately six weeks prior to the search.
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Brickman says Autry is also a mother, and is devastated by what happened, and the new charges she’s facing, four counts of violating the civil rights of Bou Bou, his parents, and others in the home.
