Lawyers describe state's account of Delaware trooper assaulting 2 teens as 'understated'
A Delaware State Police trooper made a "conscious attempt to physically punish, torment and inflict pain" on a 15-year-old boy whom the officer is now charged with punching, lawyers representing the teen said Thursday.
After being punched twice in the face by state police Trooper Dempsey R. Walters while the teen was handcuffed in the back of a police SUV, the teen was driven to a partially secluded parking lot where Walters and about 10 other officers gathered, said Sam Davis, one of the attorneys representing the 15-year-old. The teen, who had a concussion and fractured eye socket that required 11 screws and a mesh to repair, remained unattended in the police SUV for about 30 minutes as the officers gathered in the lot.
"They kept them there for half an hour while they attempted, we believe, to get their story straight," Davis said at a Thursday press conference. "To do something that would give them a reasonable explanation for why they treated him this way."
Davis' account was among some of the more shocking details of the Aug. 21 incident that were not disclosed at a joint press conference two days earlier when the Delaware Department of Justice and Delaware State Police announced the six-count indictment filed against 29-year-old Walters.
When asked about this omission, Delaware State Police and the state Department of Justice said they are unable to respond because of legal constraints.
"Your questions are fair," Mat Marshall, a Department of Justice spokesperson, told Delaware Online/The News Journal. "What was covered in the press conference aligns with what was covered in the indictment, because those are the ethical limits of what we can characterize during the pendency of a trial.
"As we begin to stray beyond the indictment itself we risk jeopardizing the state's ability to prosecute a case which, given the severity of the charges, is a risk we take seriously."
Walters is 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.
Walters, according to the indictment, reported an attempted home invasion at his Elsmere house after the 15-year-old kicked his door and fled as part of a prank known as "ding-dong ditch." Walters' call drew police from different agencies to search for the pranksters, including K-9 units and the state police helicopter.
In the process, court documents claim Walters went to the house of a 17-year-old boy he'd encountered while off-duty the previous week and — along with other officers armed with rifles — removed him from his house in the Lancaster Village development. Police have said the 17-year-old was not involved with the prank, yet he was held for hours in a police vehicle that had the heaters turned on, according to his family.
After learning the prankster had been detained by other state police officers, Walters drove to that scene and assaulted the boy, according to court documents.
Walters, who has been with the state police agency for almost seven years, remains suspended without pay or benefits. He has not been terminated.
"Everything you heard about how gut-wrenching and devastating this ... occurrence was to our clients is understated," said Davis, from Teaneck, New Jersey. He and Wilmington Attorney Chris Johnson are representing both of the teens Walters is charged with assaulting.
What Delaware investigators say happened
According to law enforcement and court records, the 15-year-old boy and others were playing "ding-dong ditch" in Elsmere on Aug. 21. Security video from Walters' home shows the boy kicking the trooper's door about 8:30 p.m., then running away.
After reviewing the security video, investigators said the trooper's girlfriend called Walters at work and told him what had happened. Walters then drove home.
On the way, court records said Walters called Delaware Police State and other police agencies for assistance. Police have said the call came in as an attempted home invasion, drawing out K-9 units and the state police helicopter.
The teens' attorneys estimate there were as many as 30 officers, some with long guns, searching the area.
After being told the juveniles ran toward Taft Avenue, Walters went to the home of the 17-year-old boy with whom he had had a verbal altercation four days earlier. Walters and another officer ordered, at gunpoint, the 17-year-old and a friend out of the Lancaster Village home.
As the 17-year-old and his friend were being handcuffed, court documents claim Walters received a call telling him the 15-year-old prankster had been detained. Walters left the scene and went to where the young teen was being held by other state police troopers at Taft Avenue and DuPont Street.
The 17-year-old, who had nothing to do with the prank, was detained for several hours by other officers before being released to his mother, who was told this had been a "misunderstanding."
When Walters arrived, court documents 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, court records say.
With the 15-year-old’s hands cuffed behind him, another trooper took the boy to a state police SUV and placed 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.
Because the body camera stays on for 30 seconds after being turned off, police said Walters was captured striking the restrained teen.
Teens' attorneys give more details
While Walters is the only person charged in this incident, state police said the agency will be looking to see if other officers violated policies.
Johnson, however, said their investigation shows more wrongdoing by other officers.
"Because the first officer that engaged the [17-year-old teen] was not Walters. It was another officer," he said. "So again, how culpable are these other officers? That's the question we have to ask and that's the question we're going to continue to answer as we investigate ourselves."
The teens' attorneys explained that the injured 15-year-old and two of his friends were being held in the Angerstein's Building Supply parking lot in separate police vehicles — something the state did not bring up in their Tuesday press conference.
Attorneys said there were about 10 police vehicles in that parking lot when one of the boys' fathers approached officers and told them to release his son.
"He got into a verbal confrontation and said 'You're going to let my son go or I'm blocking you in here,' " Davis quoted what the father told the officers that night. "That resulted in what we believe was the second or third of many confabulations between the law enforcement officers to come up with that 'Hey, how are we going to justify this?'"
Other things the attorneys brought up and claimed Thursday that the state did not mention or address at its Tuesday press conference include:
In about 18 minutes Walters was able to authorize "a small army of law enforcement," which included K-9 units, a helicopter and officers from different police agencies, some of whom carried long guns.
Not all the officers involved in the search had their body cameras on.
When the 17-year-old was removed from the house, he was taken out "so violently" that his big toenail was torn away.
Officers threatened to sic dogs on the 15-year-old and his friends as they were getting on the ground or were already on the ground.
Handcuffs on the 15-year-old and his friends were tightened in order to keep them from resisting.
There was no immediate first aid provided to the 15-year-old after his eye socket was fractured. It took nearly 50 minutes before the boy got medical attention.
Walters made sure the 15-year-old was handcuffed when placed inside an ambulance.
Two troopers followed the ambulance to Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children and made sure the teen was handcuffed to a gurney when taken to the hospital's emergency room.
Two troopers guarded the emergency room.
Police repeatedly told the 15-year-old that he'd not been punched.
Other officers did not make an effort to intervene.
When the 15-year-old's mother was called, she was told her son had a minor eye injury.
Both state police and the Department of Justice said they could not comment further due to the legal constraints of the indictment.
Davis said he is encouraged their investigation, and that of the Delaware Attorney General's, will clear up many issues that have left a "horrific stain" on the Delaware State Police.
"Everything is going to come out in this case," Davis said. "It's all going to come out and when you shine the sunlight onto an organization it is the best, maybe it's the only, disinfectant that will ever work."
View of police
Prior to these incidents, neither the boys nor their parents knew one another. That has since changed.
On Thursday, the teens' mothers spoke at the press conference and explained how this has affected their sons and themselves.
The 15-year-old's mother said her son returned to school last week. He is recovering from headaches that have him in and out of the nurse's office daily.
Not feeling safe, the 17-year-old is staying with a relative. His mother said she still feels like they are both targets.
"I don't feel like I'm safe," she said. "He made one phone call and he rallied up his whole gang. Like he rallied up his posse."
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware trooper charged with assaulting teens facing more claims
