A Wilmington police officer seen on social media repeatedly slamming a man’s head during an arrest inside a Southbridge convenience store last year is no longer with the department.
“I can confirm that he [Samuel Waters] is no longer a member of our department,” Wilmington Police Department Spokesman David Karas said on Thursday. “That is now effective as of January 5.”
The department would not say under what circumstance Waters is no longer with the department, but multiple officials, including one with direct knowledge of the situation, told Delaware Online/The News Journal that Waters was terminated.
Messages to Waters’ attorney have not been returned.
Waters, who had been on the force for three years, was placed on administrative duty even before video of the Sept. 21 incident went viral. The department’s Office of Professional Standards immediately launched an investigation.
The status of that investigation was not made clear.
The police department did not issue a public release about the incident, the arrest of the suspect whose head was slammed or the investigation launched by the department until a Delaware Online/The News Journal reporter asked about the incident in September.
Since then, a federal lawsuit has been filed against Waters claiming he used excessive force and a racial slur when arresting the suspect, Dwayne Brown.
The lawsuit, filed in October by the Jacobs & Crumplar Law Firm, claims Waters called the suspect the N-word.
The suit, which is still pending, seeks compensatory and punitive damages and claims that the victim suffered serious physical and emotional injuries.
In October, civil rights activists called for Waters’ firing and arrest.
Members of the Delaware NAACP also sought the resignation of Wilmington Police Chief Robert J. Tracy and a federal investigation of the Wilmington Police Department and other police agencies that have continuously mistreated people of color in Delaware.
