ESCONDIDO : Drug Suspect Explodes Grenade

A man who allegedly set up a methamphetamine lab in a hotel room was hospitalized in critical but stable condition Friday after setting off a hand grenade during a drug raid. A policeman was also injured.

Michael Harwood, address unknown, suffered burns and shrapnel wounds to his legs, back and chest. He underwent surgery at Palomar Medical Center for a collapsed lung and injured leg.

Escondido Police Officer Dana Ray was treated for facial cuts suffered in the explosion, which occurred just after midnight.

As police crashed through the door of Harwood’s room, they saw a man run into the bathroom and lock the door.

“The guy yelled out that he had a grenade and would use it,” said James Stathes, the agent in charge of the San Diego office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “We hear that a lot. In this case, he meant it.”

The man pulled the pin on the grenade and “shrapnel and debris came flying through the bathroom door,” Stathes said. Police found the injured Harwood inside.

The explosion blew out windows, shattered porcelain and twisted furniture. Drug paraphernalia was strewn throughout the room, police said.

The grenade could have been homemade, said Lt. John Wilson of the Escondido Police Department. “If he had a military grenade, he would be dead now,” Wilson said.

Detectives were questioning three other suspects who may have been involved in the operation, Wilson said.