Retired MS state trooper charged with assault wants to ‘punish’ an accuser, lawsuit says
A retired Mississippi state trooper arrested on misdemeanor charges for allegedly assaulting two Hancock County Justice Court clerks has filed a lawsuit against one of the victims.
Dale Conrad Decamp Sr., of Bay St. Louis, filed the lawsuit in Hancock County Court over one criminal allegation that one of the clerks made that did not result in a criminal charge.
That incident, dubbed the “hoodie” incident in the lawsuit, accused Decamp of assault for allegedly walking up behind he clerk in the Justice Court office, grabbing her hoodie, and pulling it down over her face.
Decamp in the lawsuit accuses the victim of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and outrageous conduct.
He is asking for compensatory and punitive damage in an amount that would “punish” the alleged victim for signing a criminal affidavit that he claims she knew was false when she filed it. He is also asking for costs to cover attorneys’ fees and court costs in the civil action.
“When you file (alleged) false criminal charges, there is a consequence for that, and it’s called malicious prosecution,” Decamp’s attorney, Tim Holleman, said. “They can complain about his conduct all they want. This was nothing more than horseplay, to begin with.”
Hancock County clerk: ‘This is bullying.’
The clerk, who is representing herself in the civil case, denies any wrongdoing.
The woman is one of two Hancock County Justice Court clerks who signed criminal affidavits that ultimately resulted in Decamp’s arrest in January on five counts of misdemeanor simple assault. The misdemeanor offense is punishable by a $500 fine and or six months in jail.
“It’s funny how they consider this horseplay when Dale (Decamp) was the only one putting his hands on anyone, unwanted and unprovoked each and every instance,” the clerk told the Sun Herald. “This is not horseplay. This is bullying.”
The clerk said Decamp was repeatedly told to stop touching “anyone in this office ever again” by her supervisor.
“No one would be allowed to create an environment where any of this type of behavior is considered OK,” the clerk said.
Criminal case against state trooper
Decamp “verily believes” the two clerks conspired together to pursue the criminal charges and vows to add the second clerk as a defendant in the civil litigation once the criminal case concludes.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol first investigated the complaints against Decamp in an internal investigation, but when the agency failed to take any action, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department took over.
“They filed the criminal charges when the Highway Patrol didn’t fire him,” Holleman said.
His arrest came on Jan. 19 after Judge Larry Bourgeois found enough evidence to charge Decamp on five of the six criminal allegations made against him. The judge issued the ruling ten months after the hearing, during which time Decamp retired from MHP.
In the criminal case, Decamp is accused of assaulting the two clerks at different times between March 2020 and January 28, 2021. Decamp has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
In Mississippi, a person is guilty of criminal simple assault if they attempt to cause or attempt to cause bodily injury to someone or they purposely, knowingly or recklessly cause bodily injury to someone with a deadly weapon or if they, by physical menace, cause a person to be in fear of imminent, serious bodily injury.
