Delaware state trooper indicted amid investigation into assault of teen pranking his home
A Delaware State Police trooper has been indicted after an investigation into him "brutally beating" a 15-year-old boy who had pranked his house in Elsmere last month.
In a joint announcement Tuesday, the Delaware Department of Justice and Delaware State Police announced felony charges against 29-year-old Dempsey R. Walters, who has been with the state police agency for almost seven years. He remains suspended without pay or benefits, though has not been terminated.
Officials said one of the victims did not participate in the prank and that Walters was on duty when the incident occurred. He turned off his body camera during the assault, officials said, but a program in the device meant it was only capturing video. There was no audio.
Officials released Walters' body-cam video, showing him walking up to the back of a Delaware State Police SUV that was holding the handcuffed boy. Another trooper backs out of the way as Walters strikes the boy in the face.
Walters then walks around the SUV until he again comes to where the boy is being held and flashes a light at the teen, who turns his body to face the inside the vehicle. Walters hits the button to turn his body camera on, activating its audio.
"You sure about that?" Walters is heard saying.
"Please tell me what I did? Please tell me what I did?" the boy asks.
Walters was charged with second-degree assault, a felony; deprivation of civil rights, a felony; two counts of third-degree assault, misdemeanors; and two counts of official misconduct, also misdemeanors.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings said Tuesday that the man "chose to extract his own form of personal justice" by "embarking on a violent rampage."
“As a mother and grandmother, the footage in this case is hard to watch," Jennings said Tuesday. "As a prosecutor, the constitutional violations are stunning."
State Police Col. Melissa Zebley apologized to Walters' victims on Tuesday, saying the agency recognizes "the gravity of the situation."
"We assure you all that we are taking every possible step to prevent such things from happening in the future," she said.
A state police spokesperson said the agency will be looking to see if other officers violated policies.
"When an incident involving the Delaware State Police occurs, we follow a bifurcated process," Sgt. India Sturgis, a police spokesperson, told Delaware Online/The News Journal Tuesday. "First and foremost, we prioritize the criminal investigation as was announced today. The next step in the process is for DSP to identify any potential policy violations committed by troopers on the scene."
What happened to these teens?
Walters was off duty and on his way home when he saw a 17-year-old boy near the entrance to his Elsmere neighborhood on Aug. 17, according to the indictment. Believing the boy was up to wrongdoing, Walters confronted him, causing a verbal altercation, court documents say.
Walters called Elsmere police, who picked up the teen and took him to his home in the nearby development of Lancaster Village.
The teen was not charged, but the indictment says the following day Walters looked up the teen on the state’s law enforcement information database that contains addresses, pedigree and background information.
A few days later, on Aug. 21, a 15-year-old boy and his friends were pranking homes in Elsmere by knocking on doors, then running away also known as “ding-dong ditch.”
About 8:30 p.m. that day, the 15-year-old kicked Walters’ door, which startled the trooper’s girlfriend. She then called Walters, who was on duty.
Walters drove toward his home, calling Delaware State Police troopers and other police agencies for assistance, the indictment said.
Police said this was reported as an attempted home invasion, sending out the state police helicopter and various K-9 units.
While at his house, the indictment said Walters spoke to a witness who told him several juveniles had run past him and toward Taft Avenue – the street where the 17-year-old boy from the Aug. 17 incident lived.
Walters and a Newport Police officer went to the home of the 17-year-old boy and, at gunpoint, removed them from the house, according to the indictment. The 17-year-old and his friend had not been involved in the ding-dong ditch prank.
The teens were forced to the ground, where one can be heard on body camera video saying, "Please help me," and calling for his mom.
The teen's family said they were held in hot police cars for hours before they were released. The mother of the 17-year-old boy was told it was all a "misunderstanding," Delaware Online/The News Journal previously reported.
The 17-year-old's mother said Walters had been knocking on doors in her Lancaster Village development and that he told one of the neighbors that someone had tried to break into his home.
"Some kids were over in the other neighborhood playing [ding-dong ditch], and they hit a door that belonged to a state trooper police officer," the mother said an officer told her. "Your son is not on the video. He has nothing to do with it."
Her son was released after being detained for about four hours with police not providing an incident report.
The indictment claims Walters left the scene after handcuffing the 17-year-old because a state police trooper had detained the 15-year-old boy and his friends near Taft Avenue and DuPont Street.
When Walters arrived, the indictment said, the 15-year-old was face-down on the ground as another trooper was trying to handcuff the teen.
Walters then struck the 15-year-old in the back of the neck and head with his knee, according to the indictment.
With the 15-year-old’s hands cuffed behind him, another trooper took the boy to a state police SUV and was placing him in the rear passenger seat. That’s when the indictment said Walters turned off his body-cam, walked to the police vehicle and struck the boy’s face twice, causing an orbital fracture.
Delaware's public corruption watchdogs
Walters' charges come as the state Department of Justice's Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust − the agency charged with investigating use-of-force by law enforcement and the state's top public corruption watchdogs − recently underwent a shakeup in staffing and leadership.
The division is supposed to be staffed by four deputy attorneys general, as well as inspectors and paralegals. But departures left the division with one deputy attorney general earlier this year, requiring it to borrow attorneys from other DOJ divisions.
There are now two deputy attorneys general: the division's new director, Dan McBride, and Zoe Plerhoples.
The agency has prosecuted not only police officers, but also public officials. This includes:
Michael Capriglione, Newport Police's former chief who was indicted in 2018 before he pleaded guilty to careless driving and official misconduct in 2019. Capriglione, who was sentenced to probation, is now a Newport commissioner.
Kathy McGuiness, Delaware's former state auditor, who was found guilty last year of three misdemeanors, including one tied to her hiring her daughter as a part-time employee in the auditor's office. Last month, she filed a federal lawsuit saying Jennings and other state officials violated her constitutional rights as well as defamed her.
Rebecca Walker, former Delaware deputy director of the Division of Forensic Sciences and former state representative, who was prosecuted for falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. Superior Court Judge Francis J. Jones found her not guilty.
Bill Freeborn, former Wilmington Land Bank executive director and former Wilmington city councilman, who was indicted in 2021 on charges of theft by false promise, misapplication of property and official misconduct. Freeborn pleaded guilty last year to misconduct and theft of at least $28,000.
Dawn Hill, a former General Assembly employee, who was charged with stealing money that had been donated to a colleague as a retirement gift. She was found guilty in 2021 of theft from a person age 62 or older and issuing a bad check over $1,500 and sentenced to one-year probation on each count plus restitution.
Another black eye for the badge
Walters' indictment adds to the growing list of Delaware law officers who have been recently charged with or convicted of crimes.
Samuel Waters, a former Wilmington police officer who was captured on video slamming a man’s head into a store wall in 2021, was indicted last year by a New Castle County Superior Court grand jury. Waters' charges include two felonies that carry a sentence of up to 13 years in prison. In June, Waters was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of assault and official misconduct. He has not been sentenced.
Former Wilmington Police Sgt. Kecia M. Rosado pleaded guilty in May to assaulting another city officer during a domestic incident in 2021. Rosado was sentenced to one-year probation.
James MacColl, a former Wilmington police officer, was indicted in early 2021 on multiple felony charges after prosecutors said he tampered with and lied about the gun he used to shoot an unarmed 18-year-old two years prior. In March, a jury found him guilty of a felony for lying about the gun he used to shoot Yahim Harris. MacColl was sentenced to a year of probation and 150 hours of community service for the felony lie and a misdemeanor official misconduct guilty verdict.
Brandon Cooper, a former Wilmington police officer, was charged with sending nude photos to a teenage girl he met while on duty in 2021. He pleaded guilty to lewdness, official misconduct and possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced in December to 90 days home confinement.
Last year, Michael Carnevale, a former New Castle County police corporal, pleaded guilty to repeatedly pulling a 16-year-old girl's hair and dragging her by the handcuffs in 2021 while she was on her stomach. He was sentenced to one year of probation.
Delaware State Police trooper James D. Boyda was placed on six-month probation after he pleaded guilty last year to illegally using a criminal justice computer system to find New Jersey vehicle information for a friend.
Edwin Ramirez, a former Delaware State Police corporal, was indicted in 2021 in a fraudulent traffic warning scheme. He pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and official misconduct in October and was sentenced to a year of probation and 33 hours of community service — one hour for every false e-warning he filed.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com. Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Got a tip? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware trooper charged with assaulting teens pranking his home
