A Delaware state trooper who was fired and jailed for violently assaulting two teenagers after learning one of them played a game of “ding-dong ditch” at his house is now facing a lawsuit from the boys’ families.
The lawsuit comes one year after Dempsey Walters pleaded guilty to assault and deprivation of civil rights, both felony charges. He also pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of assault in the third degree and two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct in connection with the incident in August 2023.
According to a grand jury indictment, Walters spotted one teenage boy in his neighborhood on Aug. 17, 2023, and launched a verbal altercation after believing the boy was engaging in misconduct. He and local police took the boy home. The teen was not arrested or charged.
After that incident, officials say that Walters searched the teen’s background in a law enforcement database.
Three days after the altercation, a different teenage boy was walking in Walters’ neighborhood with three of his friends and decided to play “ding-dong ditch.” Ring doorbell footage shows the 15-year-old boy running up to the front door of Walters’ home, kicking it, and running away.
Walters’ girlfriend, who was at home at the time, called Walters and told him about the prank.
Walters, who was on duty, immediately headed home and called state troopers and officers from other law enforcement agencies for help.
Believing that the first teen he encountered in his neighborhood on Aug. 17 may have been involved, he looked up the boy’s address and went to his home, according to the indictment.
When the teen came to the front door, Walters “forcibly pulled” him out of the home and “forced him to the ground, causing injuries,” the indictment states. Walters cuffed the teen and detained him in the back of a police vehicle. The teen was later released without charges.
After detaining the first teen, Walters was contacted by a state trooper who located and detained the 15-year-old who kicked Walters’ door. Walters immediately headed to the scene.
Dashcam video shows the moments a trooper caught up with the teen and his friends. He’s seen ordering the boys to the ground, then pushing the 15-year-old to the ground as the boy screams, and swearing at him repeatedly.
When Walters arrived at the scene, he saw the teen “face-down on the ground” and the trooper struggling to cuff his hands behind his back, the indictment states.
Almost immediately after arriving, Walters is seen running over and placing his knee on the back of the teen’s head and neck, causing him to cry out in distress.
After the boy was cuffed and placed in the back of a trooper’s cruiser, Walters “turned off his body-worn camera and walked to the police vehicle,” the indictment states.
While the teen was seated in the vehicle with his hands cuffed behind his back, Walters struck the boy “in the right side of his face, causing an orbital fracture,” which broke his eye socket.
However, the punch had been recorded since Delaware law enforcement body-worn cameras capture 30 seconds of buffer video, without audio, when they are deactivated.
After reviewing the bodycam footage, state police contacted the state attorney general’s office.
Walters was immediately suspended from his job. A month later, he was indicted. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to one year in jail and four years of probation.
“The Defendant’s rampage against two kids, and his subsequent attempt to conceal his misconduct, was brutal, dishonest, and unacceptable. It was a flagrant and felonious violation of his oath and an insult to his fellow officers,” Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings said in a statement.
The boys’ families filed a complaint naming Walters, several officers, and four police agencies as defendants, alleging excessive force, assault, battery, and civil rights violations, among other counts.
The suit states that the 15-year-old suffered orbital fracture, severe brain trauma and other injuries. It alleges that Walters called in K-9 units, helicopters, and officers armed with assault weapons in a gross misuse of power.
“We don’t know whether he amplified it, whether he ramped it up, or whether he was reporting what his girlfriend told him happened. We suspect that he took this to the next level. In any event, it’s the next step that is just confounding us. How could he call in helicopters, K-9 squad, long armed officers. It’s, it’s mind-boggling,” said Sam Davis, an attorney for the families.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.
Great Job Yasmeen F. & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
