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By The Vanguard
SMYMA, DE – Numerous news outlets are reporting this week Delaware state troopers were caught in dashcam recordings plotting to frame a man on false charges after he gave them the middle finger.
The videos are part of an ongoing lawsuit between Jonathan Guessford of Smyrna, Delaware, and four local state troopers, Delaware Online reported.
The news source said the videos show officers discussing how to “lock him up” and “threatening to take his child to social services after a high-speed chase to catch Guessford after he flipped them off, the paper reported.”
According to the Insider account, “Guessford’s eventual charge — failing to give a right-hand turn signal — was dismissed, court papers show. But he later sued, saying that the officers had blocked his right to freedom of expression.”
“The case dates back to March 2022, when Guessford had been holding up a sign reading, ‘Radar Ahead!’ on the roadside, in order to warn drivers of a speed trap,” according to court documents seen by Insider.
“Officers Stephen Douglas and Nicholas Gallo arrived on the scene, telling Guessford he was disrupting traffic, which he denied. The exchange got increasingly heated,” according to cellphone footage he provided to Delaware Online.
“Eventually, footage shows one of the officers grabbing his sign and ripping it up. Guessford gave the officers the middle finger as he drove away,” the outlet reported.
Insider writes, “In the process of Guessford’s complaint, videos have emerged which show the officers discussing various laws under which to pursue him, despite seeming aware they did not apply. One suggested a citation for ‘hand gestures.’”
The other replies: “Yeah, you can’t do that. That’ll get dropped.”
“We can lock him up for disorderly conduct,” the first officer reportedly said, adding, “It might not go anywhere, but we can definitely lock him up for disorderly conduct.”
After the traffic stop, Master Corporal Raiford Box, who is not named in the complaint seen by Insider, is heard telling Douglas: “We can lock him up, take his kid, put his dog in the impound … for now it is what it is,” Delaware Online reported.
Insider added, “Box then called another officer, who advised him that police can’t just lock people up for giving them the middle finger.”
Instead, writes Insider, “the officer — named by Guessford’s attorney as Christopher Popp, per Delaware Online — says: ‘We need to look at something more that applies, like maybe, something stupid, like parked in the roadway, something that will fly.’”
Popp is also not named in the lawsuit, but according to the outlet, will be deposed in the case.
And, in a statement provided to Insider, Delaware State Police said “an officer had been disciplined after an investigation into the case. It declined to comment further on pending litigation.”
