ABC News have aired a shocking video that shows the moment Arizona police kicked down a door and entered a family home with guns drawn to forcibly remove an unvaccinated toddler after a doctor reported the child to the Department of Child Safety.
The officers were at the home to remove the two-year-old boy, who had a temperature. The doctor feared that the child had meningitis, when he actually had an upper respiratory infection.
According to ABC 15, the naturopathic doctor told DCS that the child had not been vaccinated after his parents brought in him for a check-up in February with a fever of more than 100 degrees.
The doctor then told the parents to take the child to the emergency room, but his fever broke after the doctor’s visit, so they never went.
When the doctor found out that the parents never took the child to the emergency room, he called DCS.
DCS then called Chandler police to check on the child.
According to ABC, the boy’s father refused to let police inside the home.
The officers returned a short time later with a search warrant and forced their way into the home after the family didn’t respond to their orders.
State Representative Kelly Townsend, who helped get legislation passed that requires DCS to get a search warrant to remove children from their home in a non-emergency situation, condemned the incident.
After seeing the footage she told the station: ‘That is not the country that I recognize’.
‘At that point who now owns control over the child?’ asked Townsend.
‘And it seems like we’ve given that now to the doctor and the parent no longer has the say or they risk the SWAT team taking all of your children and potentially the newborn.’
Townsend said that ‘we need to admit this situation was a mistake’ and focus on other cases where there is actually ‘neglect’ and ‘abuse’.
Baxter Dmitry
Email: baxter@yournewswire.com
Follow: @baxter_dmitry