Articles: SWAT takes Homeschooler to Hospital in CO, USA

OK I saw this article on another list and had to pass it on because everyone has those neighbors that just 'do not like us' or are suspicious of our actions for whatever reason as homeschoolers or as a family. And in this case it seems that the father's past, his beliefs as a constitutionalist and the neigbors judgements had everything to do with the overreactions that happened here and very little to do with the actual well-being of the child. I am always one for both sides of the story and would love to hear what the paramedics and social services state they observed. I have my personal opinions but I will let you read and learn for yourselves.....honestly it could happen to any one of us as homeschooling families. I will update you with any further information I hear on this story.--Tabbi

SWAT team-seized boy refuses doc's painkillers
11-year-old taken against parents' will after bumping head at
family's home
Posted: January 8, 2008
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

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 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
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.

"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.

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.









http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/
2008/01/08/010908_1a_Home_raided.html

Cops raid New Castle home, take 11-year-old boy to hospital
By MIKE McKIBBIN
The Daily Sentinel

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

NEW CASTLE — The doorknob on the front door of Tom and Tina
Shiflett's New Castle-area home almost falls off, and a large
indentation marks the spot where a tactical law enforcement team
used
a battering ram to break into their home to take their 11-year-old
son to the hospital for court-ordered medical treatment for a minor
head injury.

Tom Shiflett said Tuesday an attorney has contacted him about a
potential lawsuit in response to what he considers a trespass and
kidnapping incident by those officers.

"They didn't do this just to me or my family," he said. "If they get
away with it, they did it to every family."

Garfield County's All Hazards Response Team raided the Shifletts'
home in the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park south of New Castle on
Friday
night, a day after Jon Shiflett fell when he grabbed the door handle
of a moving car driven by his sister. He suffered a minor head
injury
and still has a black eye from the incident.

Tom Shiflett, 62, said he served as a medic for two years in Vietnam
and has the skill to treat his son, and he refused to allow
paramedics to treat the youth prior to the raid.

Sheriff Lou Vallario defended the team's action, based on a past
felony menacing arrest. Shiflett admitted Tuesday that he chased his
daughter's former boyfriend down the street with an axe in 2005. The
charge was dismissed, Shiflett said, because the man was
trespassing,
and Shiflett's actions were warranted under Colorado's "Make My Day"
law.

A district court official said Shiflett's only criminal record was
for traffic-related offenses.

Jon Shiflett's injury turned out to be less severe than social
services caseworkers thought. Caseworkers who visited the family
Friday reported seeing injuries such as a "huge hematoma," or blood-
swollen area, and a sluggish pupil, according to the search warrant
and order for medical treatment.

Tom Shiflett said he doesn't know how the county learned of his
son's
injuries, but he suspects neighbors saw his son fall and called 911.

A doctor recommended fluids, Tylenol and ice to treat the boy's
bruises, according to a copy of his patient aftercare instructions.
The child was returned to the family at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday,
hours after the raid.

"That's exactly what I was doing to treat him," Shiflett said. "But
I'm not qualified to treat my family."

Six of the Shifletts' 10 children live in the home.

Tom Shiflett said his family has no religious beliefs that preclude
medical treatment by doctors, and he has taken Jon and his other
children to the hospital in the past.

"Now Jon has a common cold on top of his head injury," he said. "He
got that when they took him out of here into the cold. So who's
guilty of child abuse?"

Vallario said the raid came after Shiflett was told of a court order
for his son's medical treatment. Human services officials offered to
pay for Jon Shiflett's treatment, too, Vallario said.

"I'm not about to violate a court order, and Mr. Shiflett had acted
in a vulgar fashion and pretty much slammed the door in our face
when
we tried to work with him," Vallario said. "It's an absolute lie to
say he didn't know of the order, and we told the magistrate
something
like this would be likely, based on our past experience with Mr.
Shiflett."

Shiflett disputes Vallario's claim.

"If they would have told me they had a warrant, I would have let
them
in," he said.

After the tactical team gained access to the home, Tom Shiflett, his
wife and adult daughter were handcuffed for a brief time after they
grew agitated and interfered with officers, Vallario said. No
arrests
were made.

Garfield County Director of Social Services Lynn Rennick said her
office is required by law to intervene on reports of possible child
abuse or mistreatment, and court orders are sometimes necessary. She
wouldn't discuss any specifics about the Shifletts' case.

"I'm glad the child wasn't seriously injured, but he could have
been," Vallario said. "We knew it wasn't going to turn out nice,
either way."

•

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Mike McKibbin can be reached via e-mail at mmckibbin@...