A Salt Lake woman said she is angry at Salt Lake police officers who raided a home with a percussion grenade that injured and scared her 10-year-old daughter.
But while police admit they did not know the girl was in the house and may have acted differently had they known, they say the raid was "perfectly executed" and deny that anyone was hurt in any way.Victoria Chacon said she asked her boyfriend to let her daughter stay at his west-side house for a few days while she recovered from an operation. She said her daughter was jolted from bed May 10 when a SWAT team broke a window and set off a percussion grenade in the room where her daughter was sleeping.
"It could have killed her because it busted both windows," Chacon said, adding that the device burned a robe and two shirts that were lying on the floor.
Her daughter was immediately taken to Holy Cross Hospital, but no injuries were found and she was released. Chacon said, however, that her daughter suffered emotional stress from the incident.
"I find her at the foot of my bed in the morning from being afraid and having nightmares."
She said she knows officers must have been conducting surveillance on the house and can't understand why they did not know her daughter was inside.
Salt Lake Police Lt. Larry Stott said narcotics officers had conducted surveillance on the west-side residence and he did not receive any information about a child in the home. "Had we known there was a child there, we might not have even done (the raid)," he said.
He stressed that the grenade is not designed to injure but is simply a device used to make a loud noise to momentarily distract the residents while officers gain control of the situation during no-knock search warrants. It prevents occupants from fleeing, flushing drugs away or producing weapons.
"They're used for the protection of people inside as well as our officers," he said.
Stott said that while they were surprised the girl was in the house, she slept through the ordeal and did not wake up until an officer carried her outside. "She didn't appear upset. She didn't cry, nothing,' he said.
But regardless of the outcome, officers questioned why a mother would let her 10-year-old daughter stay in a house where drugs were being sold. Narcotics officers arrested a 40-year-old man and discovered marijuana, methamphetamines, drug paraphernalia, scales, roach clips and drug papers strewn throughout the house, according to court documents.
Officers also recovered more than $4,000 in cash and 22 guns in the home. Stott said pornography was also visible throughout the house as was a sign above a desk that said, "Fill your prescriptions here."
Chacon said she knew there was marijuana in the house but had no idea drugs were being sold there.