Former NOPD captain, now a police chief in Alaska, has assault case dismissed

An indictment charging a former New Orleans Police Department captain with assault in Alaska, where he took a job last year as a police chief, has been dismissed after a judge found prosecutors misled the grand jury.

Jeffrey Walls, the police chief in Ketchikan, Alaska, argued that he acted within his rights as a peace officer when he restrained and detained a man who had twice come to physical blows with him and his wife as they dined out last September.

Walls, who led the Eighth District in New Orleans before taking the Alaska job, was accused of felony third-degree assault and five misdemeanor counts. The felony charge was dismissed last week, according to court documents.

State prosecutors wrongly told a grand jury that an officer’s ability to use force while detaining suspects is limited to times when they are on duty, court documents show. Walls filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, and Superior Court Judge Katherine Lybrand granted it.

A City of Ketchikan investigation had undermined that the state’s case, which rested on “the allegation that Jeff placed Mr. Wildes in a chokehold for 2-3 minutes,” according to an Aug. 14 city memo.

“The State’s case is fiction and should be thrown out,” the memo reads. Ketchikan city officials did not respond to a request for comment.

State prosecutors could still try Walls for the misdemeanors: three counts of fourth-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. It’s unclear if they will.

The brawl

The case stemmed from a scrap on Sept. 10, 2022, as Walls and another Ketchikan officer ate dinner with their wives while off duty at the bar of the Salmon Falls Fishing Resort.

Another patron, Matthew Wilde, collided with Walls’ chair, according to court documents. Wilde apologized and offered to buy the group a drink, which Walls declined. But later that evening, Wilde ran into the chairs of both Walls and his wife Sharon, knocking her to the bar and bruising her.

Jeffrey Walls pursued Wilde, knocked him into a stone wall, bloodying his head, and restrained him in a hold that he said was a headlock. State prosecutors claimed it was a chokehold that lasted up to three minutes, the city memo said.

Walls argued that he exercised a lawful, off-duty use of force and detainment while he waited for Alaska troopers to arrive and arrest Wilde. 

Wilde was arrested five hours after the altercation with a blood alcohol concentration of .07%, according to a city memo. Police booked him on suspicion of assault, but prosecutors dropped the case, according to reporting by Alaska Public Media. On Dec. 29, Alaska prosecutors filed charges against Walls.

Tenure at NOPD

Walls arrived in Alaska in July 2022, just a few months before the scuffle, after 24 years with the NOPD. He’d most recently served as commander of the Eighth District, which includes the French Quarter and CBD. He moved to become top cop in Ketchikan, an island town of about 8,000 people with a cruise ship port terminal that brings in tourists. 

Walls has been reinstated to his role as chief after being placed on administrative leave pending the outcome.