MARTINSBURG — A Charles Town attorney said he was not surprised to learn of assault allegations against West Virginia State Police Trooper First Class Derek Walker.
“My reaction was finally someone captured him on video,” said Attorney Braun Hamstead. “When those cars come up there with their lights on, those videos are running. They are preserving the evidence that’s being captured.”
Hamstead filed a lawsuit in May of 2018 following an April 25, 2016 incident along Fairfax Boulevard involving his wife, Julie.
According to the lawsuit, Julie was talking to Jefferson Asphalt and WV Department of Highways workers near the front of a parking lot about a sidewalk project. Her Honda Pilot was sitting in the parking lot when a worker backed his truck up and struck the left front driver’s door of her vehicle.
Multiple State Police troopers responded, including Deputy First Class Derek Walker, the suit alleges.
In paragraph 45 of the suit, Hamstead writes:
“In order to better hear what was being said and exercise her right to defend herself against false charges by the conspiring defendants, Plaintiff turned toward the group of WVDOH and Jefferson Contracting employees who had moved to the center of the parking lot, whereupon Trooper Walker grabbed Plaintiff’s right arm, dragged her backward several feet, then spun her around and violently pulled her left arm behind her body, lifted her by her left bent arm, pushed her forward across the parking lot and then smashed the right side of her face into (a) work truck breaking her eyeglasses. Walker then slammed Plaintiff face down onto the ground, bloodying her knees, tearing open her leggings on the gravel. Walker then placed her in handcuffs behind her back as she lay helpless on the ground, face down.” -Julie Hamstead v. West Virginia State Police
The suit continues by alleging Trooper Walker placed Julie Hamstead in the back of a cruiser and turned up “blaring hard rock music” in the car with the windows closed.
“At all times relevant Trooper Walker knew that Plaintiff was unarmed, and he was at no time in fear of his safety or the safety of others, yet he used unnecessary and excessive force to arrest Plaintiff on false charges,” the suit reads in paragraph 46.
The inital lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, then moved to federal court. In August, Trooper Walker was dismissed from the case.
Hamstead filed a second complaint in September, which is currently being fought. He added during the Monday interview Julie is still hurt from the alleged incident both physically and emotionally.
“As a result of the beating and her fear of Trooper Walker, she fled the state of West Virginia,” Braun Hamstead told MetroNews affiliate WEPM. “She has permanent damage to her left arm and she received bruises throughout her body and back and neck injury. She would not come back to the state of West Virginia.”
Furthermore, Hamstead said during the case continues to have a lasting impact on his personal and professional life.
“I had left with her but then returned with her for about a year to renew and sustain my law practice here. So we’re actually now physically separated because of this. Our 14 year-old is with her and I’m here maintaining the law practice.”
Hamstead claims to have presented the lawsuit in the form of a letter to State Police Superintendent Jan Cahill.
“We heard absolute dead silence, nothing. There was never any follow-up (or) internal investigation.”
In a recent interview with State Police Superintendent Jan Cahill, Cahill indicated he was unaware of a lawsuit regarding the incident.
By Mike McCullough
