A ventilator-dependent child was hospitalized for injuries sustained as a result of police flash-bangs deployed during a raid on his home in Ohio, according to allegations by his mother and reported by multiple media outlets.

On January 10th, police in Elyria, Ohio executed a warrant at a residence where Courtney Price and her 17-month-old son Waylon were living, according to People.com.

Police deployed two flash-bang devices and used a ramming device to open the front door of the home, video published by CBS shows. On the video, Price appears with her arms raised and explains that her son is on a ventilator.


Price told NBC News that her son — who is ventilated due to pulmonary hypertension and an atrial septal defect — was injured by glass broken during the flash-bang deployment. The child was in his swing on the floor by the window and glass got on him when the windows blew out, NBC reported.

A statement from the Elyria Police Department says the infant was examined on site. After the examination, Price was told her son “did not sustain any apparent, visible injuries,” according to a People.com article. Price and Waylon were sent home once the hospital said the baby’s condition had “nothing to do with the raid,” NBC reports.

Price told NBC News that the next day her son “quit breathing” and after adjustments to his ventilator did not improve his condition she called 911 and he was taken to the hospital and transferred to University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.

“Then at Rainbow Babies, we were told that he needed six more liters of oxygen, his ventilator needed turned up … he had chemical pneumonitis, which is inflammation of the lungs and irritation of the lungs, and he had a chemical reaction and in and around his eyes,” Price told NBC News.

“The negligence from Elyria Police Department caused my baby to have burned eyes, burned chest, burned arm, burned neck,” Price explained on a GoFundMe page launched to cover medical expenses.

NBC News reports that Elyria police say that the child was not harmed during the operation: “Any allegation suggesting the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true.”

The infant was moved out of the ICU but remains hospitalized as of Sunday January 14, according to a post from Price on the GoFundMe page.

The town’s mayor has ordered internal and external investigations of the incident, according to the City of Elyria Ohio Facebook page.