Trial testimony began Tuesday in the case of a former Wilmington Police officer accused of using excessive force and lying about it.
Samuel Waters faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges based partially on surveillance footage that was widely shared on social media showing the officer slamming a man’s face against a plexiglass window multiple times while arresting him.
The case is a rare instance where a police officer in Delaware faces criminal charges for actions that occurred in their line of work. Trial testimony will also likely explore the underpinnings of what Wilmington Police consider acceptable uses of force, as well as give insights into the highly secretive processes local police use to investigate claims of wrongdoing by their own.
Trial testimony is occurring in the state courthouse in Wilmington and is expected to last one week. Here’s a breakdown of the case and what is expected to come of trial testimony.
What are the charges?
Waters faces two counts of third-degree assault and one count of official misconduct, all misdemeanors, based on an arrest that occurred Sept. 12, 2021.
He also faces one count of third-degree assault and one count of official misconduct for another arrest that occurred Sept. 21, 2021.
Additionally, he faces felony counts of perjury and tampering with public records, as well as a misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records as prosecutors accuse him of including false information in police and court records following the Sept. 21, 2021 arrest.
The arrests
In the first incident, Waters was responding to a domestic violence report joining other officers on the scene. In describing the incident to the jury on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General David Skoranski said Waters’ victim was “mouthing off” to police as he was placed with his hands behind his back across the back of a car.
He said Waters used his nightstick to forcibly push the man’s face into the back of the vehicle multiple times and then “throws” him into the back of a patrol vehicle.
In the second incident, Waters is called to a local daycare by employees that reported what Skoranski described as “harassing behavior.” He said the workers told Waters the man had a knife in his pocket but wasn’t using it or threatening to use it. The workers also showed Waters a picture and pointed out the man walking down the street, Skoranski said.
Waters confronted him in a nearby store, put his hand on the back of the man’s head and slammed it into the glass multiple times, Skoranski said.
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Skoranski said that Waters’ use of force in the two arrests constitutes assault and official misconduct because it was disproportionate to the amount of resistance he faced, considered deadly force and was comprised of techniques officers are trained not to use.
Surveillance footage capturing the interaction inside the store was widely shared on local social media leading authorities to open an investigation into the officer.
The lies
The basis of the most serious charges Waters faces are lies he is accused of making in multiple official documents following the second arrest.
In an affidavit written by Waters seeking formal approval to arrest the man from the second incident, as well as in a police report detailing the arrest, Waters claimed he had known of the man from previous experience. But Waters is also depicted on body camera footage stating that he does not know who he arrested, according to video shown to the jury Tuesday.
Skoranski said Waters also omitted facts from those official documents.
In defense of Waters
In opening statements to the jury, John Malik, Waters’ defense attorney, emphasized that police have a difficult job and said his client did what he felt was necessary to protect himself and the public and “restore order.”
“They don’t have the luxury of being able to watch videos 15 times,” Malik told the jury. “They respond and react in the best way they can in that situation to protect society and protect themselves.”
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As for what prosecutors describe as Waters’ lies, Malik told the jury it will be up to them to decide whether Waters knowingly misled or if he could have “done a better job … if he took more time.”
The evidence against the former police officer
Prosecutors on Tuesday showed the jury five videos depicting Waters’ interactions with the two people he arrested. Four of the videos were excerpts from body camera footage. The other was the surveillance-store footage that has been publicly circulated.
The body camera footage shows him both making the arrests as well as discussing the situation with other officers in the immediate aftermath.
Skoranski said an officer responsible for training Wilmington Police to use force will testify as to how Waters’ actions were unnecessary and violated policy. Malik said another expert, a former state police officer, will testify in defense of Waters.
Wilmington police acknowledged that Waters had been fired from the force on Jan. 5, 2022. Waters had also been fired from another police department five years prior.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
