A policeman admits to kneeling a 15-year-old’s handcuffed neck and breaking his eye socket over a doorbell joke.

Dempsey Walters was charged in September 2023 with assaulting a 17-year-old boy with whom he had an argument and a 15-year-old boy who pranked him by ringing the doorbell.

DOVER, Del. (AP) – A suspended Delaware state trooper is facing prison time after pleading guilty to criminal charges that included brutally assaulting a teenager who prankly targeted the officer’s home.

Authorities said Dempsey Walters, 30, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree assault and deprivation of civil rights. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor assault and two counts of official misconduct. Prosecutors plan to recommend that Walters be sentenced to 1.5 years in prison.

“We do not recommend reckless prison sentences, but there is no doubt that justice requires it in this case,” Attorney General Kathleen Jennings said in a prepared statement. “The defendant’s rampage towards two children and his subsequent attempt to cover up his misconduct was brutal, dishonest and unacceptable.”

The case was the primary application of the state’s civil rights law, which lawmakers passed unanimously in 2022.

In September 2023, Walters was charged with assaulting a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old who suffered a broken eye socket. Authorities said Walters was off-duty and returning to his Elsmere home last August when he argued with a 17-year-old. Walters contacted Elsmere police, who took the teenager home and released him to his mother. The next day, authorities said, Walters looked him up in a Delaware law enforcement database.

Three days later, Walters was on duty when a 15-year-old and three friends who were passing Walters’ home decided to play a prank on the doorbell. The teenager ran to Walters’ home and kicked within the door before running away. In the video from the house surveillance camera, the teenager’s face appears to be covered. Walters’ girlfriend called him and provided a description of the teenager. Walters drove to the realm and called other soldiers and police for help.

While trying to find the one who got here to his door, the witness told Walters that several juveniles had just run down the road where the 17-year-old lived. Walters drove to the realm, looked up the 17-year-old again in a state database and went to his home with two Newport law enforcement officials.

When officers arrived at the teenager’s home, he and his friend approached the front door. Authorities said Walters grabbed the 17-year-old and pushed him to the bottom, injuring him. The teenager, who was not a part of the group that pulled the doorbell prank, was handcuffed and detained but was never formally arrested throughout the encounter, which was captured on Newport police cameras and Walters’ body camera.

Walters then heard that the group involved in ringing his doorbell had been found and arrested. When he arrived, the 15-year-old was lying face down on the bottom and an officer was trying to handcuff him. According to investigators, almost immediately after arriving on the scene, Walters lowered his knee to the back of the teenager’s head and neck, as seen on the police vehicle camera and Walters’ body camera.

After the 15-year-old was arrested and placed in a police automotive, Walters and one other officer confirmed that the person arrested was the identical one who kicked him within the door. He then turned off his body camera and approached the police vehicle. While the teenager was handcuffed at the back of the vehicle, Walters punched him within the face, fracturing his right eye socket. Walters then walked across the vehicle and turned the body camera back on.

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