HABERSHAM COUNTY, Ga. -- A toddler who was nearly killed last month after a botched drug raid in Habersham County is making a remarkable recovery -- but the child still has a very long way to go, as the investigation into what went wrong continues.
The Habersham County district attorney, Brian Rickman, says his office has done more than 30 interviews with witnesses in the case, covering everything from the search warrant to the entry procedure to the swat team's training to who made the call to go in.
Meanwhile, the little toddler who was critically burned is amazing everyone around him.
"The word that his father has been using is this is a miracle," said family attorney Mawuli Mel Davis. "This is a miracle."
And for little Bou Bou Phoesavanh, it is no less than a miracle to go from where he was to where he is today. It has been a journey from near-death, back to the arms of his loving family, with a smile no less.
"He is smiling," said attorney Davis. "What has happened is that you're seeing the power of a family together.. A loving family and I think that their love and energy is really nurturing him and bringing him back to life. Because he was really on the brink."
He is not out of the woods yet.
The terrible injuries to his chest and face will likely take months to heal before he can go home. He spends 8 hours in rehab a day, re-learning the baby steps and words he already knew.
"They're working on his speech, being able to walk again," Davis explained. "Everything. Because the explosion impacted his brain."
While investigators try to reconstruct the events of that night in May when deputies from the county's SWAT team lobbed a flash bang grenade into his crib, Bou Bou apparently sees it over and over. In his dreams.
"He woke up yelling and screaming multiple times," said Davis. "We think he might be re-living it. He's not able to communicate why. But he's going through it. The girls are as well."
That's because Bou Bou's sisters and parents were all in the room when the flash-bang went off. They believe it actually landed on the baby's chest, where it exploded with the sound of a pound of TNT and a million candle power of blinding light.
It is the reason critics say the device should rarely be used by police just looking for drugs.
