Former Delaware state trooper sentenced for assaulting teens after door prank
A former Delaware state trooper was sentenced to prison Tuesday for the state's first-ever deprivation of civil rights conviction after the trooper assaulted two teenagers in August 2023.
Dempsey Walters, 30, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, deprivation of civil rights, third-degree assault and official misconduct in April. On Tuesday, the 30-year-old was sentenced to one year in prison and four years of probation.
Walters was indicted in September 2023, but the assaults of a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy happened in August 2023.
According to the Delaware Attorney General's Office, Walters was off work heading home when he got into a verbal altercation with a 17-year-old boy on Aug. 17, 2023. Afterward, Walters contacted the Elsmere Police Department, who sent officers to bring the teen to his home on Taft Avenue.
The AG's office said Walters looked the 17-year-old up the next day on a controlled-access law enforcement database.
A couple of days later, on Aug. 21, a 15-year-old boy was with three friends walking in Elsmere when he ran up to Walters' home, kicked the front door while covering his face and ran away as part of a prank. Walters wasn't home at the time, but his girlfriend was and called him, giving him a description of the boy who kicked the door.
The AG's office said Walters then alerted state police and nearby police departments for backup. Walters searched his neighborhood and was told by a witness that several teens were seen running down Taft Avenue.
According to the AG's Office, Walters, once again, looked up the 17-year-old on the law enforcement database, found his home address on Taft Avenue and headed there with assisting officers.
The 17-year-old answered the door and was pulled out of his home by Walters, where he was forced onto the ground and handcuffed. According to the AG's Office, the teen was injured due to the impact exerted by Walters in forcing him to the ground. The AG's office said the 17-year-old was not a part of the group that kicked Walters' door earlier that night.
"You need to think before you act. I don't even know. I just think that he was just unhinged, and I'm just glad he's off the streets," Chavuan Harris, the 17-year-old's mother, said.
Once the former state trooper heard the 15-year-old and his friends had been detained, he met up with the officers, who had the teen face-down on the ground and being handcuffed. Walters then dropped his knee on the back of the 15-year-old's neck, injuring him, according to the AG's office.
Walters confirmed with a trooper on the scene that the 15-year-old was the one who kicked his door, then turned off his body-worn camera and punched the teen in the face, fracturing the 15-year-old's right eye socket and giving him a concussion.
"I mean, I was happy to see him in cuffs. Better than 90 days. But just glad that we can move forward," said Erica Murphy, the 15-year-old's mother.
When asked about her son's wellbeing she said: "He's recovering. You know, he's doing the best he can."
The AG's office said Walters then turned his body-worn camera back on.
After discovering the misconduct, DSP supervisors suspended Walters without pay with the intent to terminate. The former state trooper resigned from his job after pleading guilty in April.
An attorney for the two families of the teenage boys assaulted by Walters previously described the string of violence as "law enforcement-sponsored torture." The attorney also said other officers were just as bad for not intervening.
DSP said while they've identified several policy violations involving the other troopers, no one else has been criminally charged.
State police said Walters was decertified so he can't become a police officer in another city or town.