WILMINGTON — A former city police officer has been indicted in connection with two cases of excessive force in September 2021, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Monday.
The Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust secured the indictment against Samuel Waters, 27. One incident came to the division’s attention after surveillance video went viral on social media, Ms. Jennings said.
“The evidence in this case shows a clear and disturbing pattern of violence and deception,” she said. “The defendant repeatedly abused a position of trust and authority and then subsequently lied about it. We don’t tolerate this kind of misconduct by anyone — let alone from someone who swore an oath to protect his community — and we will prosecute his crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”
DCRPT opened an investigation after discovering footage of a Sept. 21, 2021, incident, during which Mr. Waters repeatedly forced a man’s head against a Plexiglas window, causing lacerations and bruising, Ms. Jennings alleged.
DCRPT also discovered that Mr. Waters allegedly failed to turn on his body-worn camera when he should have (and regularly failed to do so); that he lied in official documentation of the incident; and that, nine days prior, he was involved in another excessive-force incident, in which he used his nightstick to repeatedly apply pressure on the back of an individual’s neck, pushing their face into the back of a vehicle and causing injuries, the AG said.
Mr. Waters is facing charges including first-degree tampering with public records, second-degree perjury, third-degree assault (three counts), official misconduct (two counts) and falsifying a business record. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 13 years in prison.
Deputy attorneys general Mark Denney and David Skoranski secured the indictment, following a probe by DOJ investigator Millard Greer.
