A Pennsylvania man is alleging Dover Police unlawfully beat and restrained him during two encounters in 2013.
Stephen DiFlorio, 22, of West Chester, claims ten Dover Police officers illegally assaulted him or watched the incident after a fight at the now-closed W T Smithers Restaurant and Tavern in March 2013.
The civil complaint against the department and the City of Dover filed in US District Court in Delaware says DiFlorio and a friend had left the bar when he got into a fight with several unknown people in a nearby alleyway.
Police arrived, the others fled and that’s when DiFlorio says he was shot with a stun gun directly in his spine. He was treated and released from Kent General Hospital and went home.
The next night, DeFlorio says six armed officers showed up at his front door, threw him to the ground and punched and kicked him in the face while his hands were behind his back.
DiFlorio was eventually charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and other offenses. The resisting arrest charges were eventually dropped, but served a probation sentence for disorderly conduct.
He claims he suffered a concussion and other injuries, which he says police justified by fake paperwork.
Dover PD has an outstanding police brutality lawsuit from the Delaware American Civil Liberties Union over an August 2013 incident that left Lateef Dickerson with a broken jaw.
Police spokesman Corporal Mark Hoffman, also a defendant in the suit, says the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but is aware of the suit.