GIRL INJURED IN MINNEAPOLIS DRUG HOUSE RAID

A 3-year-old girl was burned Thursday when a "flash-bang" device used by
Minneapolis police during a drug raid set fire to a mattress she was lying
on, an official said.

Officers considered the house in the 3400 block of Bryant Av. N. to be high
risk partly because they had information that people inside were armed,
spokeswoman Cyndi Montgomery said.

The device is used to temporarily disorient people and animals. When police
tossed it through a window, it bounced onto the mattress and caught fire.

The girl suffered what appeared to be minor burns, Montgomery said. Other
people in the house, including two children ages 1 and 6, were not hurt.
Officers put out the fire.

"We had no information whatsoever that there would be children in the
house," Montgomery said. "Had we known, we might have used another means of
entering the house."

Police paramedics treated the girl, who was then taken to North Memorial
Medical Center in Robbinsdale.

Because the investigation is ongoing, it was unclear Thursday night what
was recovered from the house, Montgomery said. A woman was arrested on
suspicion of a narcotics violation; a man was cited for possessing drug
paraphernalia and a second man was cited for keeping a disorderly house, a
police report said.

It was the third time this year that police had made drug arrests at the
house, Montgomery said. A police report indicates that in January police,
working from information gathered by the Minnesota Gang Strike Force,
searched the house and found a small amount of crack cocaine.

"We take every precaution we can into every situation," Montgomery said.
"But it is not without risk. Nothing is 100 percent safe."