http://www.truthring.org/2008/01/swat-officers-invade-home-take-11-year-old-at-gunpoint/


SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint


By Bob Unruh

Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family’s home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.


The boy’s parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed in the weekend assault, and the boy’s father told WND it was all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves.

Someone, apparently the unidentified paramedic, called police, the sheriff’s office and social services, eventually providing Leoniak with a report that generated the magistrate’s court order to the sheriff’s office for the SWAT team assault on the family’s home in a mobile home development outside of Glenwood Springs, the father, Tom Shiflett, told WND.

WND calls and e-mails to Garfield County Social Services were not returned, and Leoniak, who earlier served as a water court clerk/referee, also was not available.

Sheriff Lou Vallario, however, did call back, and told WND he ordered his officers to do exactly what the magistrate demanded.

“I was given a court order by the magistrate to seize the child, and arrange for medical evaluation, and that’s what we did,” he said.

According to friends of the family, Tom Shiflett, who has 10 children including six still at home, and served with paramedics in Vietnam, was monitoring his son’s condition himself.

The paramedic and magistrate, however, ruled that that wasn’t adequate, and dispatched the officers to take the boy, John, to a hospital, where a doctor evaluated him and released him immediately.

The accident happened during horseplay, Tom Shiflett told WND. John was grabbing the door handle of a car as his sister was starting to drive away slowly. He slipped, fell to the ground and hit his head, Shiflett said.

He immediately carried his son into their home several doors away, and John was able to recite Bible verses and correctly spell words as his father and mother, Tina, requested. There were no broken bones, no dilated eyes, or any other noticeable problems.

The family, whose members live by faith and homeschool, decided not to call an ambulance. But a neighbor did call Westcare Ambulance, and paramedics responded to the home, asking to see and evaluate the boy.

I agree, this is indeed tragic, it reminds me of the case of Elian Gonzales, and how he was "stormtrooped" out of his families home at gunpoint, and returned to an evil militant regime, who his father was a member, but unfortunately the people in power want complete control over the population, so we will continue to loose all of our rights guaranteed, until people wake up and stand up for our rights, and take back possession of "our" county....we the people.

Obviously, the paramedic was concerned about the boy's condition and wanted to be sure that the boy got proper medical care. The use of a SWAT team, however, does seem excessive. Did anyone try talking to the boy's parents prior to the SWAT invasion?

This crap is going to slowly creep up on your average citizen.Anytime anyone gets hurt you will be forced by the police to see a doctor(a doctor you can not choose of course).Then against your will he will give you lots of shots and drugs and stick you with a bill charging you thousands of dollars.Maybe you will be forced to ride in a ambulance costing you another $800.00.Lets face it.It's just a matter of time before our government breaks down our doors and puts everyone in a concentration camp.The end is near!

Jimmy, it's not the function of the government to step into that situation at all. I'm quite certain the parents of the child were concerned about his condition as well, but since they were able to use some common sense to determine he was not seriously injured, that should have been the end of it. The fact that some meddlesome third party feels they have to report this to "authorities" in order to get the child SEIZED from his own family is a testament to how much our individual liberties have been annihilated. Unless there is physical abuse taking place, the family should be the sole determinant of what is in the best interests of their own children.

Try living without police or government. That would be Mad Max out of control. jmo

Of course this is not a good thing. But it's the exception... not the rule. Most of the time law enforcement acts reasonably and responsibly.

I don't consider a trained paramedic to be a "meddlesome third party". I have to believe that if the paramedic had been allowed to examine the boy, and he was indeed not seriously injured, that would have been the end of the story. Also, I've never seen paramedics travel alone. There is always a crew. So I'm sure this was not the decision of just one individual to call police. In fact, I would bet that his supervisors were consulted beforehand as well. Imagine if he had done nothing and it turned out that the boy was seriously injured and maybe even died.

In any event, I think we can agree that the use of a SWAT team was no doubt VERY excessive.

It is becomming a trend.This is fresh off that other story of the young boy who refused chemo and the judged ordered him to get it any ways.This country has been doing fine with people making their own decisions and how they want their life run.Lately it seems we are living in a nanny state where our government wants to make our decisions for us from healthcare,to what we eat,to how we drive,to what we buy.

The parents should have been arrested for mental and emotional abuse making the kid recite bible verses. If the government doesn't control you, the religious right will. Don't see much difference, just pick your poison.

I think the Swat team was over the top, in this instance why the hell couldn't they knock first, but I don't think someones concerned about the boys status was over the top, just a strange way to go about it.

Either way, hang tight Thomas, any dumb action by the police will be proof enough for you that the world is evil and out to get you.

"A government in it's very best state is but a necessary evil, in it's worst state it is an intolerable one."

-Thomas Jefferson

do I think SWAT was needed??? NO. But any report about a child should be investigated in case of child abuse

So no one else missunderstands I think what the police did in this case was way over the top and totally wrong. But as usual your facts are wrong and your relationships between them are twisted. Last I saw the boy had been ordered to be tested not treated with kemo, there is a pretty big difference. And both these cases involve minors not legally capable of making their own medical decisions. This shows absolutely no trend toward forcing adults to anything.

Why so sure? When people think of "anarchism" they think of pure chaos and disorder. Most anarchists, at least the more educated ones, aren't looking for social disorder, just a different kind of order or order without government. Theoretically, if you look at anarcho-syndicalism, you get small, self-governed communities, each of their own political agenda, in which the workers own the means of production and each individual works for the direct benefit of others. There would be no need for money, although if the members of a community agreed on it, they could use some form of currency. The only way to achieve this is to "smash the state," as they say. While many anarchists seek to project their ideals through violent revolution, some do so through peaceful protest, refusing to back down but also refusing to partake in the violence used by their oppressors.

You make a good point, though for many reasons, I don't ever see anarchy getting a foothold.

Welcome.

They're trying to build a prison...small steps first, then when you are comfortable they will start taking bigger steps.