Why Should Delaware Care?
Police officers are government-employed public servants tasked with making sure communities are kept safe. Delaware allocates about 10-15% of its operating budget to public safety, funded in part by individual income taxes.
A traffic stop for a flat tire near Bear last month ended with police pepper-spraying and punching a man in the face, leading to injuries that sent him to the emergency room.
During the incident, police also pointed a taser at a woman filming the encounter, according to the video footage shared with Spotlight Delaware.
Now Joel Morales-Vega, 29, faces a slate of criminal charges from the Sept. 24 traffic stop, including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The Puerto Rican man has filed an official misconduct report against the New Castle County Police Department for what he says was racial profiling.
While details remain disputed, video taken by Morales-Vega’s partner, Yessica Gonzales, begins with two police officers pinning him to the ground. The video also shows the man with a bloodied face.
What exactly spurred it all remains unclear.
New Castle County Police Department representatives said Gonzales’ video only tells a portion of the story, asserting that police officer-worn body camera footage provides more context.
A Freedom of Information Act request for that footage was denied, with officials citing an open records exemption for criminal investigations.
Officials also pointed to one of the arresting officer’s affidavit of probable cause – a document that outlines the reason for an arrest – for additional context.
The affidavit states that the arresting officer first saw Morales Vega’s SUV as it approached an intersection at Brookmont Drive, before stopping just beyond the white stop line. The officer also asserts that Morales-Vega then “continuously made eye contact” with him as he proceeded through the intersection.
The officer then pursued the SUV and pulled Morales-Vega over. According to the affidavit, the traffic stop was due to the flat tire and to objects hanging from the SUV’s rearview mirror.
Such infractions would normally result in traffic citations, but subsequent questions about Morales-Vega’s past led the officer to demand the driver step out of the vehicle.
What happened?
Prior to the traffic stop, Morales-Vega said that his car had a flat tire. He drove to a Wawa outside his Bear neighborhood to temporarily fill the tire with air. He then drove back to pick up a tire jack from his neighbor to replace the flat, he said.
Before reaching his neighbor’s home, Morales-Vega said New Castle County police officers pulled him over.
Morales-Vega said he was not nervous. There is no active warrant on his name. And he figured an officer might help him replace the tire, since he was a couple houses down from his neighbor’s.
But the stop escalated after the officer asked Morales-Vega to step out of the car without a reason, according to his account.
When he refused, the officer grabbed him by the arm and punched him, he claimed. Out of fear, Morales-Vega honked his SUV’s horn to alert neighbors to the altercation.
Gonzales’ video shows how two officers then had Morales-Vega restrained on the ground, with one kneeling on his lower back.
“Look what they did to my face,” a bloodied-faced Morales-Vega says in Spanish in the video.
As Gonzales zoomed in on the incident with her camera, officers shouted “back up.” Gonzales replied “OK,” as an officer then pointed a taser at her, according to the video.
“Joel, relax, please,” she says in Spanish as Morales-Vega can then be seen in the video trying to reach for the officer’s taser.
The officer holsters the taser and pepper-sprays Morales-Vega in the face. As Morales-Vega rubs his eyes into his elbow and the officer punches him in the face.
“Give me your f–king hand,” the officer yelled.
“I’m not resisting,” he replies.
Gonzales is heard asking Morales-Vega what he did to get arrested. Morales-Vega replied with one eye swollen that he did not know. He just knows he had a flat tire, he said.
New Castle County police have not made a statement regarding the video.
Police claim ‘nervous behavior’ instigated stop
Spotlight Delaware obtained the charging document written by New Castle County Police Officer Anthony Fiorentino, who graduated from the county police academy last year.
The charges against Morales-Vega include two counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly honking his horn during the traffic stop to alert neighbors and punching walls in the hospital, where he was taken after his arrest. He also faces charges for resisting arrest, driving an unsafe vehicle and another for obstructing his rearview mirror, due to a pair of mini Puerto Rican boxing gloves that hang inside his SUV.
The police account begins by describing how Fiorentino was patrolling the area. Fiorentino wrote that Morales-Vega and him made eye contact as he drove through an intersection.
“Through training and experience this is a sign of nervous behavior exhibited from drivers,” Fiorentino states in the document.
At this point, the officer pursued Morales-Vega after noticing the flat tire at the entrance of the neighborhood.
After pulling him over, Morales-Vega provided his vehicle registration, proof of insurance and driver’s license. The officer also asked Morales-Vega if he has a criminal record, which he allegedly denied. On his computer screen, Fiorentino noted that Morales-Vega had a previous second-degree assault charge.
Public criminal records show Morales-Vega had a second-degree assault charge in 2019. He violated probation in 2024 and 2025. But earlier this year in May, Morales-Vega was discharged for what he says was good behavior.
In his affidavit, Fiorentino noted that this conviction would prohibit Morales-Vega from owning a firearm, but he does not elaborate as to why he would have been concerned about that.
This is when the officer asks Morales-Vega to step out of the vehicle. He also asks for backup units, to which multiple cop cars arrive at the scene.
In the document, Fiorentino also appears to contradict the events depicted in the video. He says he punched Morales-Vega before using pepper spray. The video shows Morales-Vega rubbing his eyes into his right arm when an officer punches him in the face.
The statement also does not state that one officer pointed a taser at Gonzales.
A search of Morales-Vega’s vehicle, recorded by Gonzlaes, is also left out – Morales-Vega was not charged with anything related to the vehicle search. Delaware does not require a warrant to search a vehicle of a motorist who has been arrested.
New Castle County Police spokespeople said those items could likely be found in a more detailed police report that is not available to the public.
Reporting police misconduct
Morales-Vega has filed a police misconduct report, outlining the incident he wishes to be investigated.
The New Castle County Police’s Professional Standards Unit is in charge of reviewing the submitted complaints to identify any legitimate misconduct after questioning all parties involved.
Investigators could either sustain the complaint; find there is not sufficient evidence to sustain it; find that the police actions were lawfully justified; or find proof the incident did not occur as the complaint states.
If there is enough evidence to prove misconduct, disciplinary actions include training, reprimand, suspension, termination, or criminal prosecution.
But the issue with the internally-conducted investigation in Delaware is that there is no independent way outside of the police department to review how the complaint is investigated, according to Javonne Rich, the policy and advocacy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.
This makes investigation in Delaware “secretive” since not all police records are made public, such as the body cam footage denied to Spotlight Delaware.
The law which governs police accountability in Delaware is the Police Officers’ Due Process, Accountability, and Transparency, or PODPAT. As of 2024, each law enforcement agency had to make public the number of police complaints and investigations, as well as their results.
According to the NCCPD’s 2025 report, 33 citizens filed police complaints – with only one concerning an officer’s use of force. The officer was exonerated in the case.
Ivan Sun, a University of Delaware professor whose research includes law enforcement policies, said there’s two sides of the coin when it comes to making internal police records public.
On one hand, police departments may protect evidence if a sensitive criminal case is moving through the justice process. On the other hand, releasing records such as body cam footage can correct publicly circulated rumors or misinformation about an incident.
Lingering questions lead to concerns
Morales-Vega returned home later that night with a concussion, a black-eye, scrapes around his face and assault from the punches, according to his medical records from ChristianaCare.
His partner, Gonzales, said Morales-Vega had an asthma attack from the lingering pepper spray and an anxiety attack from the incident when he came back home.
The man and the rest of his family is still trying to figure out what led to his arrest since he has not had required check-ins with parole and probation for months since leaving incarceration. He has a preliminary hearing on Oct. 14.
Whether the body camera footage from the incident is publicly released is, in part, up to Delaware’s Department of Justice.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings released body camera footage from the fatal shooting of Wilmington teen Kadir Skinner earlier this year. She has also publicly called for reforms on when body camera footage should be released to the public and will be backing a bill in next year’s General Assembly pushing for that measure.
A DOJ spokesperson told Spotlight Delaware the Morales-Vega case has not reached their office for review yet.
