Global Courant
A Delaware State Police trooper has been charged following an investigation into the “brutally beating” of a 15-year-old boy who allegedly pranked his home last month.
In a joint announcement Tuesday, the Delaware Department of Justice and the Delaware State Police announced felony charges announced against 29-year-old Dempsey R. Walters, who has been with the state police for nearly seven years. He remains suspended without pay or benefits, but has not been terminated.
Officials said Walters was on duty when the incident occurred. He turned off his body camera during the attack, officials said, but a program in the device ensured it still captured video. There was no sound.
Officials released Walters’ bodycam video, which shows him walking to the back of a Delaware State Police SUV that was holding the handcuffed boy. Another soldier backs away as Walters punches the boy in the face.
Walters then walks around the SUV until he comes back to where the boy is being held and flashes a light at the teen, who turns his body toward the inside of the vehicle. Walters presses the button to turn on his body camera and activate the audio.
“Are you sure?” 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 misdemeanor; deprivation of civil rights, a criminal offense; two counts of assault and battery; and two counts of official misconduct, also felonies.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings said Tuesday that the man “chose to obtain his own form of personal justice” by “engaging in a violent rampage.”
“As a mother and grandmother, the images in this case are difficult to watch,” Jennings said Tuesday. “As a prosecutor, the constitutional violations are staggering.”
State Police Col. Melissa Zebley apologized Tuesday to Walters’ victims, including one who did not participate in the prank, and said the agency recognizes “the seriousness of the situation.”
“We assure you all that we are taking all possible steps to prevent such things from happening in the future,” she said.
What happened to these teenagers?
Walters was off-duty and on his way home on August 17 when he saw a 17-year-old boy at the entrance to his neighborhood in Elsmere, Delaware, according to the complaint. Believing the boy had done something wrong, Walters confronted him and started a verbal altercation, according to court documents.
Walters called Elsmere police, who picked up the teen and took him to his home in the nearby Lancaster Village neighborhood.
The teen was not charged, but the complaint says Walters looked the teen up the next day in the state law enforcement information database, which includes addresses, family tree and background information.
A few days later, on August 21, a 15-year-old boy and his friends fooled houses in Elsmere by knocking on doors and then running away, known as ‘ding-dong ditch’. About 8:30 p.m. that day, the 15-year-old kicked in Walters’ door, startling the trooper’s girlfriend. She called Walters, who was on duty.
Walters drove to his home and called Delaware State Police and other law enforcement agencies for help, the complaint said. Police said it was reported as an attempted home invasion, prompting the deployment of the state police helicopter and several K-9 units.
While at his home, the complaint said, Walters spoke with a witness who told him that several juveniles had run past him toward the street where the 17-year-old boy from the earlier incident lived.
Walters and an officer from nearby Newport went to the home of the 17-year-old boy and removed them from the house at gunpoint, the complaint said. 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 can be heard on body camera video saying, “Please help me” and calling for his mother.
The teen’s family said they were held in hot police cars for hours before being released. The 17-year-old boy’s mother was told it was all a “misunderstanding,” The Delaware News Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, previously reported.
“Some children were playing in the other area (ding-dong ditch) and they bumped into a door belonging to a state police officer,” the mother told her. “Your son is not in the video. He has nothing to do with it.’
Her son was released after being held for about four hours while police failed to file an incident report. She said Walters had been knocking on doors in the neighborhood and told one of the neighbors that someone had tried to break into his house.
According to the criminal complaint, Walters left the scene after handcuffing the 17-year-old boy and went to where another officer had detained the 15-year-old boy and his friends. The 15-year-old was face down on the ground and handcuffed when Walters arrived.
Walters then struck the 15-year-old in the neck and head with his knee, the complaint said.
With the 15-year-old’s hands cuffed behind him, another officer took the boy to a state police SUV and placed him in the rear passenger seat. Then it said in the indictment Walters turned off his body camera, walked to the police vehicle and punched the boy twice in the face causing an orbital fracture.
Another black eye for the badge
Walters’ indictment adds to the growing list of Delaware attorneys recently charged with or convicted of crimes.
James D. Boyda, Delaware State Police trooper was placed on probation for six months after pleading 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 on charges of fraudulent traffic alert system. He pleaded guilty in October to falsifying business records and official misconduct and was sentenced to one year of probation and 33 hours of community service – one hour for each false e-alert he submitted.
A state police spokesperson said the agency will investigate whether other officers violated policy in the case for which Walters was charged.
“When an incident occurs involving Delaware State Police, we follow a split process,” said Sgt. India Sturgis, a police spokesperson, told The Delaware News Journal. “First and foremost, we are prioritizing the criminal investigation, as announced today. The next step in the process is for DSP to identify any policy violations by troopers on scene.”
Contact Esteban Parra at [email protected], Xerxes Wilson at [email protected] and Isabel Hughes at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @izzihughes_.
This article originally appeared in Delaware News Journal: Delaware State Trooper accused of attacking teenagers who were playing pranks
