Delaware state trooper accused of assault; teen hospitalized with serious injuries

ELSEMERE, Del. - A Delaware State trooper is accused of assault and the alleged victim, a teenager, wound up in the hospital. The boy’s family says it may have all started with a prank.

Pictures of the swollen and beaten face of a 15-year-old boy are making the social media rounds and the posts are forcing the Delaware State Police to respond and take action.

"He has a long road ahead of him physically and mentally," the young man’s aunt, Tara Murphy, said.

Murphy says her nephew, who FOX 29 is not identifying by name, was assaulted by a uniformed state trooper Monday night. She wants people to see the pictures to show what happened. "They did decide to play a game of Ding Dong Ditch Doorbell Dixie. I’m sure we’ve all grown up playing that game."

The game took a turn when, she says, unfortunately, her nephew and three friends unknowingly rang the "Ring doorbell of a Delaware State trooper. A little while later, she says that trooper and a partner tracked the boys down along South Union Street, near the Wilmington and Elsemere border.

"State troopers, which normally don’t patrol that area of Elsemere, stopped my nephew and his friends, arrested them and that is when my nephew was beaten," Murphy continued.

She says troopers had to call an ambulance and taken to Nemours Hospital with a broken orbital bone, a concussion, along with other scrapes and bruises.

FOX 29 asked Delaware State Police about the incident. In a statement, they say, in part:

"Through an internal body-worn camera review…the state trooper who is accused of the assault has been suspended while the investigation is pending."

As her nephew recovers, mentally and physically, the family wants to know who did this.

"In the coming days, right now, we would like to have the name of the trooper. They have still refused to share the name with us. With the public. They are keeping that under wraps. We want justice for our nephew," Murphy added.