NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) - Two Delaware police officers are accused in a lawsuit of using excessive force during their arrest of a teenager in 2019.
The News Journal reports that the lawsuit claims the New Castle County officers unnecessarily slammed 16-year-old Roger Brown to the ground, partially crushed his windpipe, put a knee on is neck and chest and punched him multiple times.
The incident occurred in February 2019 while officers were responding to a drug dealing complaint, according to police statements in court documents.
The lawsuit says video shows officer Denes Papellas order Brown to get off his dirt bike while Brown asked several times what he had done wrong. At that point, Papellas slammed Brown to the ground, according to the lawsuit.
Body camera footage shows Officer Justin Evans arriving and putting his knee on the teen’s neck as he continued to struggle “in a possible attempt to catch his breath,” according to the lawsuit.
Chris Johnson, Brown’s attorney, declined a request to discuss the lawsuit.
Police found bags of marijuana, a digital scale, prescription pills and more than $1,000 in cash on Brown, a police spokesman said at the time. He was charged with various crimes.
In court documents, police said Brown had tried to flee on the dirt bike and was “struck several times in an attempt to control him.”
A Delaware Department of Justice investigation found the officers’ use of force was not a criminal act.
Attorneys representing the county and officers have not responded to the lawsuit in court and are not listed in court documents.
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