CHANDLER, Ariz. – A video emerged this week allegedly showing Arizona officers breaking down a door with guns drawn to take an unvaccinated toddler, suspected to be suffering from a high fever, to the hospital after the parents refused to do so.
Arizona State Rep. Kelly Townsend told The Arizona Republic newspaper that the situation began in Februaruy when the parents took their unvaccinated 2-year-old son to a doctor over a 105-degree fever. The doctor recommended that they take their child to the emergency room, but they refused, saying the toddler's fever broke after the doctor visit.
After finding out that the child was not taken to the hospital, the doctor reportedly contacted the Arizona Department of Child Safety to conduct a welfare check. Police said the father initially refused to let them check on the child, so they returned with a search warrant and forced their way into the home.
Watch the video below:
Townsend said she was outraged by the police response seen in the video.
"What has our country become that we can tear down the doorway of a family who has a child with a high fever that disagrees with their doctor?” Townsend told the paper.
In February, Townsend wrote a Faebook post speculating over the possibility of forced vaccinations, and comparing it to communism.
"I read yesterday that the idea is being floated that if not enough people get vaccinated, then we are going to force them to," Townsend wrote. "The idea that we force someone to give up their liberty for the sake of the collective is not based on American values but rather, Communist."
In Arizona, a parent may decline vaccinations for their child based on personal, religious or medical exemptions.
DCS officials said that the family's three children have been placed in protective custody.
The newspaper reports that because of child-welfare laws in Arizona, it may take months for the parents to regain custody of their children. It is possible that they never will.