Authorities in Georgia said on Friday that they were investigating five teenagers for trespassing after they were suspected of taking part in a “doorbell ditch” hoax in which one of the pranksters was reportedly attacked.
One of two similar incidences in the previous month happened on Tybee Island, near Savannah, when teenagers rang doorbells or knocked and then rushed away. The prankster’s family and lawyers allege he was attacked by a state policeman during a doorbell prank in Delaware.
According to the Tybee Island Police Department, the unnamed people have been submitted for criminal trespassing charges. The investigators have asked for the case to be handled in a juvenile court.
According to police, the suspect who resided in the burglarized residence was captured on Monday after he apparently hid there after realizing he was wanted. The defendant, William Cole, is accused of pursuing down a group of youngsters in a vehicle, trying to strike them, then jumping out of the car, holding one of the youths, and choking him.
There have been no reports of serious injuries.
According to authorities, Cole was arrested on suspicion of severe assault and child cruelty. Although he was approached by the local public defender’s office for comment, it was unclear whether or not he had legal counsel.
A state trooper in Delaware was suspended this week after a “doorbell ditch” prank at his home put a teenage prankster to the hospital and prompted questions about the propriety of the police response.
According to Samuel Davis, an attorney hired by the injured child’s family, the incident happened on August 21 when two or more juveniles approached a home, and one of them kicked the door before escaping.
He said that state police tracked down his client using video from a prank captured on a Ring doorbell.
Davis claims the 15-year-old he called Jayden kicked the door and ran away, and that while he walked around the area, he spotted a helicopter overhead and a state police unit following in their tracks. Davis said that the high school student obeyed police’ commands to get on the ground and surrender.
Davis claims that the soldiers kneeled him in the back and neck before kicking him in the side of the body.
According to the attorney, Jayden said, “I want my mom.” “He was pleading for both his mother’s and his own life.”
Davis said that the juvenile was apprehended, put in a police cruiser, driven to an empty lot, and kept there until the arrival of a trooper who lives in the residence that was the target of the prank.
State authorities have not revealed the trooper’s identify.
According to the counsel, the police officer shone a flashlight in the teen’s eyes and smacked him in the face. So you want to play “ding dong ditch” at a trooper’s house?, the officer allegedly inquired.
According to the attorney, the adolescent was rushed to the hospital after waiting for treatment for 30 minutes. Among the ailments he described were an eye socket fracture and jaw pain.
Davis said that the teenager is experiencing neurological problems as a result of the head trauma and that surgery is required to fix the fracture to his orbital rim.
According to the lawyer, Jayden was escorted to the hospital, handcuffed, and detained in a cell guarded by two extra state police until his mother was satisfied it was all a mistake and her kid was released.
According to Davis, state police also encircled the Delaware home of another juvenile who they suspected was involved in the hoax but was not. He also represents the teen’s family.
According to the lawyer, a third juvenile who was traveling near the scene of Jayden’s arrest was forced out of his vehicle at gunpoint. It was unclear if he was the joke’s victim or perpetrator. Davis said that astonished neighbors had videotaped the incident.
Jayden’s story contains elements that a family member previously reported in a now-deleted Facebook post, but to which the Delaware State Police have not responded.
According to the state agency, the officer whose home was damaged has been put on administrative leave while an inquiry is conducted.
“We take these allegations extremely seriously,” the company said. We are also investigating if any other DSP personnel who were there failed to intervene.
The Delaware State Troopers Association did not respond.
Davis has said that he is working to have the state agency release the body camera footage of the troopers involved in Jayden’s arrest. He claims the trooper was on assignment, therefore the question is how someone inside the house could have communicated to summon that many police officers, a helicopter unit, and a canine squad.
According to Davis, the 911 emergency line was not used.
The reputations of the state troopers were at danger, according to Davis. The agency responded by emphasizing, “At our core, the Delaware State Police values our community’s trust.”
Anurag Chandra, 45, drove a car full of teenagers off a road in Southern California in 2020, killing three of them. He was condemned to life in jail without the possibility of parole in July.
Prosecutors claimed the teenagers pulled a doorbell ditch prank on the man in his Temescal Valley area, which is around 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles.