Trooper who assaulted 2 teens, including one who pranked him, pleads guilty to felonies
A Delaware State Police trooper who assaulted two teens, a 15- and 17-year-old, pleaded guilty on Friday to two felonies and four misdemeanors, including deprivation of civil rights, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.
It's the department's first use of the state's Deprivation of Civil Rights statute passed in 2022.
Dempsey Walters was initially indicted in September on charges of punching a handcuffed 15-year-old so hard it caused a concussion and a fractured eye socket. His trial was scheduled to start on July 22.
Though Delaware State Police previously said the agency intends to terminate Walters, spokesperson Sgt. India Sturgis said on Friday that he remains suspended without pay or benefits. He's been suspended since the late-August assault.
A lawyer for the victims told Delaware Online/The News Journal that the families are grateful the Attorney General's Office was able to convict Walters.
"The question is how the Delaware State Police could have a chain of command breakdown, which allowed this trooper to have the law enforcement apparatus run so amok, is still a mystery," said Sam Davis, one of the lawyers representing the teens and their families. "Also we do not believe that all of the participants in this the assault have been charged.
"Having said that, the families look forward to the court meting out the appropriate punishment which will put one phase of this saga behind them."
What happened?
According to law enforcement and court records, Walters' encounter with the 17-year-old occurred several days before the assault.
On Aug. 17, Walters was off-duty and returning to his home in Elsmere’s Lancaster Village when he made contact with the 17-year-old. A "verbal altercation" ensued, the Delaware Department of Justice said, and Walters contacted Elsmere police.
Two officers took the teen to his home on Taft Avenue, where they turned him over to his mother. He was not charged with anything.
BACKGROUND Lawyers describe state's account of Delaware trooper assaulting 2 teens as 'understated'
The next day, Walters looked up the teen on DELJIS, a controlled-access law enforcement database. Those with access to DELJIS are not allowed to use it for non-work-related matters.
Four days after this interaction between Walters and the 17-year-old, a 15-year-old boy and others were playing "ding-dong ditch" in Elsmere. The 17-year-old was not involved.
Security video from Walters' home shows the 15-year-old boy kicking the trooper's door about 8:30 p.m., then running away. According to the Delaware Department of Justice, after reviewing the security video, 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 again looked up the 17-year-old's address and called Delaware Police State and other police agencies for assistance. Police 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 group ran toward Taft Avenue, Walters met with two Newport officers and went to the home of the 17-year-old boy with whom he had had a verbal altercation four days earlier. At gunpoint, Walters and another officer ordered the 17-year-old and a friend out of the Lancaster Village home.
"Walters forcibly pulled (the teen) out of the doorway and forced him onto the ground, causing injuries," the state Justice Department said.
As the 17-year-old and his friend were being handcuffed, court documents say, 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.
MORE: Delaware state trooper indicted amid investigation into assault of teen pranking his home
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, the 15-year-old was face-down on the ground as another trooper was trying to handcuff the teen, court documents say. Walters then hit the 15-year-old in the back of the neck and head with his knee.
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 Walters turned off his bodycam, walked to the police vehicle and hit the boy’s face twice.
Because the body camera stays on for 30 seconds after being turned off, police said Walters was captured striking the restrained teen.
The 15-year-old, 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, said Davis, the boy's attorney.
Davis said both teens continue to suffer physical and psychological impacts as a result of the assaults.
"I can tell you that they still don't feel safe in their neighborhoods," he said. "They're both still under medical and psychological care."
But he believes they will feel better once Walters is sentenced.
It is over?
New Castle County Councilman Jea P. Street said he is glad to hear there was a guilty plea in this matter and that the Department of Justice is pursuing prison time for Walters.
Street, a former 3rd vice president and life member of the state NAACP, has been advocating for federal intervention that would review Delaware police and their use of force. He also believes this matter deserves a deeper review of what occurred, especially as a single officer was able to draw police from different agencies to search for the pranksters, including K-9 units and the state police helicopter.
“I’m assuming that the investigation is ongoing,” he said. “It appeared to me to be a lot of impropriety from the inception.”
Street wants to know how Walters was able to get the law enforcement response he got. He also wants to know why officers who were at the scene did not say anything.
“It took the victims to come forward as opposed to anybody internally before the investigation started,” he said. So I hope that the investigation is going on, is continuing, and that other action is taken.”
State police told Delaware Online/The News Journal they continue to investigate the matter.
"While the plea marks a significant development, it does not signify the conclusion of our investigation," Sturgis said. "We want to assure the public that we are diligently continuing our administrative investigation."
What attorneys for victims have found
During a press conference last year, the victims’ lawyers, referred to the state’s account of what occurred on Aug. 21 as an understatement.
"Everything you heard about how gut-wrenching and devastating this ... occurrence was to our clients is understated," Davis said at a press conference he held in Wilmington in September.
During this press conference, Davis said that after the teen was punched 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. Two friends of the 15-year-old boy were also in police custody.
The teen, who had a concussion and fractured eye socket, remained unattended in the police SUV for about 30 minutes as the officers gathered in the parking lot.
It wasn’t until a father of one of the friends approached officers and told them to release his son that the officers left the lot.
"They kept them there for half an hour while they attempted, we believe, to get their story straight," Davis said at his press conference. "To do something that would give them a reasonable explanation for why they treated him this way."
This is something that had not been disclosed at a joint press conference held last year by Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Delaware State Police Col. Melissa Zebley.
Other things Davis and the teens’ other attorney said the state did not mention or address last year 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 Children's Hospital 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.
Recommended sentence
Walters was suspended after state police "uncovered Walters' misconduct" and reported it to the Justice Department's Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust.
At a September news conference, Attorney General Jennings called Walters' actions "a violent rampage," saying he "chose to extract his own form of personal justice."
Zebley, meanwhile, said state police would take "every possible step to prevent such things from happening in the future."
On Friday, she said in an emailed statement that it was "disheartening that the actions of one can tarnish the noble endeavors of many."
"However, I firmly believe that this isolated incident will not overshadow the unwavering dedication of our troopers," Zebley said.
Walters pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and deprivation of civil rights, both felonies, as well as two counts of third-degree assault and two counts of official misconduct.
The Department of Justice will recommend an 18-month prison sentence as part of the plea deal.
"Hopefully this conviction and the punishment that Walters is given will be a deterrent to other law enforcement who can avoid getting caught up in a response which so disproportionate to the underlying event and violated so many of our clients' rights," Davis said. "You understand that the physical injury, the rampage was only part of it and then there was the amount of time that both these young men, who were both injured, were kept from getting first aid.
"This is all going to come out to civil suits."
Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Trooper who assaulted teens pleads guilty to civil rights deprivation
