- The dash camera footage was released as part of an ongoing lawsuit Smyrna resident Johnathan Guessford is pursuing against state police officers.
- Guessford is suing police for destroying a sign he made to warn drivers about their speed trap and charging him with a nonsense traffic infraction when he gave them the middle finger.
- In a written statement, a Delaware State Police spokesperson said the incident was subject to an internal affairs investigation and a trooper involved was disciplined in line with department policy.
Dash camera footage shows Delaware State Police officers conspiring to manufacture a traffic charge for a man who flipped them off as well as the officers musing on video about locking the man up, impounding his dog and having the state take guardianship of his child.
The dash camera video was released as part of an ongoing lawsuit Smyrna resident Jonathan Guessford is pursuing against state police officers for destroying a sign he made to warn drivers about their speed trap and charging him with a nonsense traffic infraction when he gave them the middle finger.
His charge was ultimately dropped, but he sued afterward, claiming the officers knowingly trampled his constitutional rights. Below is a rundown of what the new footage shows and what state police leadership said − and did − about the incident.
Editor’s Note: View excerpts of the newly released footage below.
The fake charge
Guessford was standing on the side of Route 13 south of Smyrna in March 2022 holding a handmade sign that said “radar ahead.” The 54-year-old said he started the occasional protest after a run-in with a state trooper running a radar trap while blocking part of the road.
He was approached by two officers, Cpl. Stephen Douglas and Officer Nicholas Gallo, who got into a verbal confrontation with him and incorrectly told him he could not stand on the side of the road with the sign. After a botched attempt by Douglas to snatch the sign, Gallo yanked it from Guessford’s grasp and ripped it up.
As Guessford left, he flipped the officers off, prompting the officers to follow him. They were joined by Master Cpl. Raiford Box, who identified himself as a supervisor, and promised to lock up Guessford for disorderly conduct and have the state take his child.
Ultimately, the officers issued a citation under a law that governs hand signals for non-motorized vehicles like bicycles. The charge was later dropped.
Delaware Online/The News Journal interviewed Guessford and shared a video he took of the encounter shortly after his lawsuit was filed.
Previous coverage: He warned drivers about an upcoming speed trap, then got cited. Why he’s suing police
New dash camera videos released
Video clips turned over by Delaware State Police in the lawsuit and given to Delaware Online/The News Journal by Guessford’s attorney capture portions of the interaction previously unseen. In the footage, officers are recorded conspiring to trump up the fake charge.
The videos are from the officers’ dash cameras and show one of them driving through traffic on Route 13 at more than 100 mph and another at more than 90 mph to catch up to Guessford after he gestured at them with the middle finger.
‘Wackjob’: The videos make clear that the officers knew who Guessford was from his previous run-in with the officer conducting a speed trap while in a travel lane. On a phone call after the citation was issued, Box refers to Guessford as the “wackjob” who had the run-in with “Sarge” for being parked in the road before the day’s events.
‘Game on’: Douglas was warned by Box that the hand-gesture charge was bogus and Box didn’t do anything from stopping the officer from issuing the phony citation.
One of the videos captures a phone call between Box and Douglas as Douglas is pulling Guessford over after he flipped them the bird. Douglas suggests citing Guessford for hand gestures. Box, in the video footage, laughs and says, “Nah.” He then suggested arresting him for disorderly conduct before noting that also wouldn’t stick.
“We can lock him up for disorderly conduct,” Box tells Douglas in the video. “It might not go anywhere, but we can definitely lock him up for disorderly conduct.”
The video also shows Douglas trying to search for the law regarding hand signals. He later tells Gallo, “He stuck his middle finger out of the car and I’m like ‘game on.'”
Guessford, in an interview, called it a “contempt of cop charge because I didn’t show them the deference they think they deserve.”
‘Do something stupid’: After the stop is over, the three officers are huddled together and Box tells them that he sees that they are going to have “a problem with that guy,” but he is going to do “something stupid.”
“We can lock him up, take his kid, put his dog in the impound … for now it is what it is,” Box said.
‘That is their right‘: After the stop concludes, Box’s dash camera records two phone calls he makes directly after.
The first call appears to be with a supervisory officer who Box expects will receive Guessford’s complaint. Ron Poliquin, Guessford’s attorney, said that officer is Christopher Popp, who is scheduled to be deposed in the lawsuit.
In the conversation, Box recounts what happened. He tells Popp that he knows the hand gesture citation wasn’t going to stick and that he knew the officers were wrong for taking Guessford’s sign because he and other officers previously got in trouble for taking signs from “beggars.”
Box tells Popps that he will get complaints from Guessford and states again that Guessford is eventually going to mess up to the point “we are really going to be able to lock him up.”
“We need to look at something more that applies, like maybe, something stupid, like parked in the roadway, something that will fly,” Popps replies.
Popps tells Box that he is going to “do some more work up on this guy.”
“Unfortunately, I mean, we can’t pull people over; we can’t write them tickets for telling us to (expletive) off or giving us the middle finger, stuff like that,” Popps tells Box. “That is their right to do so.”
Box then takes a call with one of the officers involved in ticketing Guessford, tells the officer that Popps said the ticket isn’t legitimate and the officer replies: “Well, at least it inconveniences (Guessford).”
Officer disciplined
Guessford noted the supervisor’s reaction to “do some more work up” on him instead of taking what his officers did seriously.
“How are you going to let people like that testify against people in court?” Guessford said. “You had everyone conspiring together to find something to arrest me after violating my constitutional rights.”
In written submissions to the court, the attorneys for the officers involved denied wrongdoing.
In a written statement, a Delaware State Police spokesperson said the incident was subject to an internal affairs investigation and a trooper involved was disciplined in line with department policy. The spokesperson noted the ongoing lawsuit in declining to share any detail.
The statement included a quote from Col. Melissa A. Zebley, superintendent of the Delaware State Police, noting that the officers’ role includes both public safety and “safeguarding rights and liberties of every person” and that she is “committed” to ensuring every state police officer “understands that obligation and takes it seriously.”
“These are the guys that arrest people and put people in prison, and they are talking about locking me up on charges for something that doesn’t fit,” Guessford said. “It is sickening.”
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
