SWAT Team Invades Home, Takes 11-Year-Old At Gunpoint On Insane Order Of Magistrate Lain Leoniak
SWAT Team Invades Home, Takes 11-Year-Old At Gunpoint On Insane Order Of Magistrate Lain Leoniak© 2008 by Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com
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[EJF comments in Courier font.]
January 7, 2008 — 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. [One might also reasonably ask why tiny Garfield County, population 52,000, needs a SWAT team?]
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. [Why stop with just a SWAT team? Why not mobilize an infantry company?]
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 [Lain Leoniak], 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. [because, wonder of wonders, there was nothing wrong with the boy.]
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.
The paramedics were allowed to see the boy, and found no significant impairment, but wanted to take him to the hospital for an evaluation anyway. Fearing the hospital's bills, the family refused to allow that. "This apparently did not go over well with one of the paramedics and they started getting aggravated at Tom for not letting them have their way," a family acquaintance told WND. "The paramedics were not at all respectful of Tom's decision, nor did they act in a manner we would expect from professional paramedics," the acquaintance said.
So the ambulance crew, who also could not be reached by WND, called police, only to be told the decision was up to the Shiflett familiy. The paramedics then called the sheriff's office, and officers responded to the home, and were told everyone was being cared for. Then the next day, Friday, social services workers appeared at the door and demanded to talk with John "in private."
They were so persistent Tom ended up having to get John out of the bathtub he was just soaking in, to bring him to the front porch where the social workers could see him, the family reported. Then, following an afternoon shopping trip to town, the family settled in for the evening, only to be shocked with the SWAT team attack.
The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years. However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. "I can't tell you specifically," he said. "He was refusing to provide medical care," the sheriff said.
However, the sheriff said if his own children were involved in an at-home accident, he would want to be the one to make decisions on their healthcare, as did Shiflett. "I guess if that was one of my children, I would make that decision," the sheriff said. But he said Shiflett was "rude and confrontational" when the paramedics arrived and entered his home without his permission. [Of course a father should resist someone trying to take his children. But in neo-con Amerika it is rude and confrontational to do so.]
The sheriff also admitted that the injury to the child had been at least 24 hours earlier, because the fall apparently happened Thursday afternoon, and the SWAT attack happened late Friday evening.
Officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association reported they were looking into the case, because of requests from family friends who are members of the organization. "While people can debate whether or not the father should have brought his son to the ER – it seems like this was not the kind of emergency that warrants this kind of outrageous conduct by government officials," a spokesman said.
Tom Shiflett said when John was evaluated by the physician, "they didn't find anything wrong with him." He said the paramedics never should have entered his home, but they followed his wife in the front door when she came in. "My attention was on my son," Shiflett said.
He said the SWAT team punched a hole in his door with a ramrod, and the first officer in the home pointed a gun right in the face of Tom's 20-year-old daughter. "I don't know where social services ever got started, or where they got their authority," he said. "But I want to know why we have something in this country that violates our rights, that takes a parental right away."
He said he saw a multitude of injuries in Vietnam, and while he recognized that his son needed to be watched, he wasn't willing to turn his child over to the paramedics. With 10 children, most of them older than John, it's not as if he hasn't seen a bruise or two, either, he said. "Now I'm hunting for lawyers that will take the case...I'm going to sue everybody whose name was on that page right down to the judge," he said. [And everyone in this case is immune but the parents so a lawsuit will go nowhere.]
Mike Donnelly, a lawyer with the HSLDA, told WND the case had a set of circumstances that could be problematic for authorities. "In Doe V. Heck, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that parents have a fundamental right to familial relations including a liberty interest in the care, custody and control of their children," he said. He also said many social services agencies apply "a one size fits all approach" to cases, regardless of circumstances.
January 8, 2008 — A Western Colorado boy who was taken by police against his parents wishes to a hospital after he was horsing around and bumped his head says the doctor told him to put ice on the bruise, and offered him painkillers, but he said he didn't need any.
WND has reported John Shiflett, 11, was taken to a hospital by the Garfield, Colo., County SWAT team after he fell, hitting his head on the ground, and his parents refused paramedic demands to be allowed to take him in.
A concerned neighbor apparently had called for an ambulance, but his father, Tom Shiflett, who worked with the medics corps in Vietnam, had evaluated his son and was watching him, so he told the paramedics to leave without his son.
Someone on the paramedic team then, apparently, called police and the sheriff's office, eventually resulting in a magistrate's order for the boy to be seized, triggering the sheriff's decision to invade the family's home with a SWAT team whose members had guns drawn.
"He's got one of the best shiners I've every seen," Tom Shiflett said of his son.
John Shiflett yesterday told WND that the doctor at the hospital took his blood pressure four times, and asked him if he was on any medications.
"They asked if I was healthy and I said yes," he said. Doctors also did several X-ray procedures to evaluate his injury, and told him to drink a lot of cold liquids and "keep an ice pack on my head." he said.
"That's exactly what we were doing at home before we were interrupted," he said.
Authorities have declined to explain the reasoning for the court order for the medical evaluation, and SWAT team entrance into the home.
Jim Bradford, a court clerk in Garfield County, said it was a juvenile matter and he could not comment on any aspect of the case, and he declined to allow WND to leave a message for Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak, who signed the order.
A spokeswoman for WestCare Ambulance, which reportedly responded to the call, also refused to answer any questions about the case, saying all issues were considered patient confidentiality issues.
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario did talk with WND about the situation, and said he simply ordered his officers to do exactly what the magistrate [Lain Leoniak] 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.
Vallario said the SWAT team was dispatched, and officers knocked on the family's door. Shiflett told WND when he answered the knock the SWAT team members already had surrounded and were approaching his house from several directions.
The SWAT team then forcibly entered the home, punching a hole in the front door and pointing guns at family members, Tom Shiflett said. The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed.
Someone, apparently the unidentified paramedic, had called police, the sheriff's office and social services, eventually providing [recently appointed magistrate] 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 told WND.
WND calls and e-mails to Garfield County Social Services also were not returned.
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, the family said. 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 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.
A family acquaintance said the decision not to let paramedics take the boy to the hospital, "did not go over well."
"The paramedics were not at all respectful of Tom's decision, nor did they act in a manner we would expect from professional paramedics," the acquaintance said.
Police first told the paramedics the decision to hospitalize the boy would be up to the family, and sheriff's deputies left the family's home after being assured John was being watched and cared for.
However, the next day, Friday, social services workers appeared at the door and demanded to talk with John "in private," before seeing him and eventually leaving.
Then, following an afternoon shopping trip to town, the family settled in for the evening, only to be shocked with the knock at the door and the SWAT team attack.
The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years.
However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. "I can't tell you specifically," he said. [Obviously rumor and innuendo serves to justify the use of paramilitary force.]
"He was refusing to provide medical care," the sheriff said. [But additional medical was obviously not required.]
However, the sheriff said if his own children were involved in an at-home accident, he would want to be the one to make decisions on their healthcare, as did Shiflett. "I guess if that was one of my children, I would make that decision," the sheriff said.
But he said Shiflett was "rude and confrontational" when the paramedics arrived and entered his home without his permission. [That is to say the father was not servile and did not grovel before these jackbooted thugs.]
The sheriff also admitted that the injury to the child had been at least 24 hours earlier, because the fall apparently happened Thursday afternoon, and the SWAT attack happened late Friday evening.
Officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association reported they were looking into the case, because of requests from family friends who are members of the organization.
"While people can debate whether or not the father should have brought his son to the ER – it seems like this was not the kind of emergency that warrants this kind of outrageous conduct by government officials," a spokesman said.
"I don't know where social services ever got started, or where they got their authority," Shiflett said. "But I want to know why we have something in this country that violates our rights, that takes a parental right away."
"Now I'm hunting for lawyers that will take the case...I'm going to sue everybody whose name was on that page right down to the judge," he said.
Mike Donnelly, a lawyer with the HSLDA, told WND the case had a set of circumstances that could be problematic for authorities.
"In Doe V. Heck, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that parents have a fundamental right to familial relations including a liberty interest in the care, custody and control of their children," he said. [But don't count on that right in Colorado.]
January 10, 2008 — The mother of an 11-year-old boy abducted by SWAT team members and taken to a hospital after he was bruised while horsing around is warning members of her community of the "Nazi" tactics she endured, including a statement from the officers that her "rights" were "only in the movies."
The case involves Jon Shiflett, who injured himself while trying to grab the handle of a door on a car his sister was driving. He slipped and fell to the pavement, hitting his head. His parents treated him for the injury and rejected paramedics' demands that they be allowed to take him to a hospital.
Nearly 36 hours later, SWAT team members broke into the family home in western Colorado near New Castle and took Jon to a hospital, where a doctor said the family should keep ice on his bruise, exactly the treatment the family already had been providing.
Tina Shiflett, Jon's mother, has written a letter to the editor to a local newspaper, the Post Independent, "to awaken, alert and appall any who read it and hear the bells ringing."
"A fully armed SWAT team broke into our home, slammed my children to the floor face down with their hands behind their backs and shoved a gun in my daughter's face and handcuffed her..." her letter said.
In a separate letter to WND, she elaborated a little more fully.
During the attack, she wrote, "One (officer) grabbed my daughter Beth (18 years), who also had a gun to her face, slammed her down and kneed her in the back and held her in that position... My sons Adam (14) and Noah (only 7) lay down willingly, yet they were still forced to put their hands behind their backs and were yelled at to keep their heads down."
"My daughter Jeanette was coming out from the back bedroom when she was grabbed, drug down the hallway, across a couch and slammed to the ground," she said. "The officers then began throwing scissors and screwdrivers across the room (out of our reach, I suppose) and going through our cupboards. I asked if I could make a phone call and was told, 'no.' My daughter asked if that wasn't one of our rights. The reply was made, 'That's only in the movies,'" she told WND.
It was some unidentified person, possibly a paramedic who had been refused permission to take Jon Shiflett to the hospital as she wanted, who provided information last week that convinced a magistrate [Lain Leoniak] to issue a court order that Jon be taken into state custody and examined by a doctor.
He was taken by SWAT team members dispatched by the sheriff to the family's home at 11 PM at night, and they punched a hole in the front door and held guns on other children in the family in order to take Jon.
"The armed men in black masks took my terrified son against his wishes to Grand River Hospital, where he was examined by a doctor and interrogated by Social Services. No evidence was found that he had not been properly taken care of. Upon his return, we were told to keep ice on his head," Tina Shiflett's letter to the editor said.
"To the SWAT Team members...how far will you go in 'just doing your job?' If you feel no guilt busting into an innocent family's home, traumatizing young children and stomping the security found therein, will you follow more horrific orders?" she wrote.
"May I remind you that in Nazi Germany, outrageous, monstrous crimes were committed by soldiers 'just doing their job?' What will be next? Where will this stop?" she wrote.
"Fathers, mothers, families and countrymen, I challenge you to consider our story and ask yourself the question, 'If this were my family, what would I do?' For it very well could be you ... next!"
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario told WND he simply ordered his officers to do exactly what the magistrate demanded.
"I was given a court order by the magistrate [Lain Leoniak] to seize the child, and arrange for medical evaluation, and that's what we did," he said. [Just doing as he was ordered.]
The situation developed at the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park near New Castle last week when Jon Shiflett was horsing around and fell. Tom Shiflett carried his son home and put an ice pack on his head, while examining him to see whether his mental faculties were there. The boy correctly recited Bible verses and spelled words, the parents told WND.
But paramedics were called by a neighbor, and when they arrived, Tom Shiflett let them see his son, but refused their demands that he be taken to a hospital. The paramedics then apparently lobbied the city police, the sheriff's office, social workers and eventually the magistrate in order to get their way in having Jon taken to a hospital.
Jim Bradford, a court clerk in Garfield County, said it was a juvenile matter and he could not comment on any aspect of the case, and he declined to allow WND to leave a message for Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak, who signed the order.
Wrote ItsJustMe, "Welcome to the coming socialist police state."
Said "mrNiceGuy," "Police man shoots man in heart at a distant range, is not charged. Police cover up the events that proceed (sic) the death of someone in their custody, no one is charged. Police enter wrong apartment and shoot an unarmed man thinking a can is a weapon, no charges filed. But a kid bumps his head and his parents deem him to be ok – knock the door in and start cuffing people."
"I cannot describe the feeling of having your child abducted, taken from your care, not knowing what will happen to him, and if he will ever be returned back into your arms again," Tina Shiflett wrote in the separate letter to WND. "I record this by my own hand in hopes of awakening anyone who would read it to the injustice of our police depart (sic), social services and court system. But above all to glorify my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose reign is supreme over all this earth..."
The letter clarifies that the family did, indeed, cooperate with officers who arrived about 11 PM on that night.
"Between 10 and 1 ...a sheriff came to the door. My husband met him at the window and he began to question my husband. My husband spoke with him and answered all his questions. The sheriff then said if Tom would just let him speak with Jonathan (our 11 yr. old son) this whole matter (story following) would be closed," she documented.
"Tom said, 'You are saying, 'If I let you speak to Jonathan this whole matter will be closed.?' Then Tom called for Jonathan to come to the window," she said.
"As soon as Jonathan was visible to the sheriff, a SWAT team appeared shining lights on Jon's face and others were bashing at the door with a ramming device. My daughter resisted and pushed against the door to stop them as she didn't know who they were. I told her to back up and not try to fight them. They then entered our home, held a gun to my daughter's face and others of them, five or more, rushed into the living room and physically forced my other children to the ground."
"We were told Jonathan would be taken to a hospital near us for evaluation, and then questioned by the human resources. At this point Jonathan was scared, crying and shaking. We asked if we could accompany him, or follow them to the hospital. We were warned not to try to follow him or come to the hospital or criminal charges would be pressed against us.
"Our son was returned to us at 2:30 AM Saturday morning. In all this was not one shred of evidence found that we had done anything wrong or that Jon had not been properly cared for at home," she said.
"what the?" was KarlSpackler's comment on a forum at the Denver Post.
And "mamm354" added, "Whoever it was that gave the order to do this should be thrown in jail. Illegal assaults on our privacy is why we need the second ammendment. I don't see the police being this agressive against illegal aliens but they approach their work with this level of zest against citizens!?!?! Heads should roll for this."
Lynn Rennick, the social services director in Garfield County, has said her office is required to intervene when it receives a report about "possible mistreatment" of children, but she didn't comment on any such report in this case, who may have filed it, or what it might have said.
A spokeswoman for WestCare Ambulance, which reportedly responded to the call, also refused to answer any questions about the case, saying all issues were considered patient confidentiality issues.
Ross Talbott, the owner of the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park who rents to the Shifletts, called the SWAT team actions "gross irresponsibility and stupidity."
"Is this Russia? I don't know what we're coming to when they think your kid needs medical help and they send a SWAT team," he said.
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