The Delaware State Police announced the suspension of one of their own, who reportedly brutally beat a 15-year-old for playing an innocent game of Ding-Dong-Ditch. The decision to suspend came after deputies reviewed the bodycam footage, WPVI reported.
The 15-year-old victim’s name is Jayden, and his family in Wilmington told reporters that he and his friends decided to play ding-dong-ditch, where someone rings a house doorbell and runs away.
However, the boys rang a state trooper’s doorbell, and things went south. The trooper and his partner discovered the boys 45 minutes after they rang his doorbell and brutally beat the boy.
They arrested Jayden and his friends., but none were charged.
According to the family’s lawyer, Samuel Davis of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon P.C., Jayden had “bruises all over his body, on his shoulder…on his chest” and “the back of his neck.”
Jayden’s orbital bone was broken and required surgery.
The family took photos of Jayden’s injuries and equipped themselves with a lawyer after learning a state trooper caused it.
“He was roughed up on the ground while handcuffed, and he was given a blind haymaker punch by a state trooper while he was shining a flashlight into his eyes,” Davis said.
In a statement, the DSP explained that they found out about the situation after they reviewed the bodycam footage on Tuesday, Aug. 22. In addition to the trooper’s suspension, the DSP said they would investigate the partner who was present during the incident to see if they intervened.
“The Delaware State Police is aware of a social media post which alleges that a teenager was assaulted and injured while being detained by a trooper during an investigation,” the announcement read. “We take these allegation extremely serious…The state trooper who is accused of the assault has been suspended while the investigation is pending.”
It continued, “Additionally, we are also investigating whether or not there was any failure to intervene by other DSP personnel who were present at the time of the incident. We assure you that a comprehensive investigation is underway, and we are examining all available evidence.”
