Police demand boy go to doctor because of fall during horseplay

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado - 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.

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 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.

Ed. Note:  So Sheriff Vallario, you would lie, cheat, steal, and even murder, if you were only order to do so by a magistrate judge or other superior?!  This is one more example of a mindless, stupid bureaucrat who cannot think beyond his nose and cannot do anything he is not specifically programmed to do.  Below is contact information for the vile creatures responsible for this unforgivable atrocity perpetrated on law abiding Americans.  The youngster is likely mentally traumatized for life.

Fascist Pig #1 poor excuse for a human
Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak
Colorado 9th Judicial District
970-945-5075

Fascist Pig #2 poor excuse for a human
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario
970-945-0453

Fascist Pig #3 poor excuse for a human
Chief Executive Lynn Rennick
Garfield County Social Services
970-945-9191  option #4  option #1