Video footage released by the University of Delaware Thursday gives the public a first look at police body camera footage from an arrest that has led to numerous calls for increased accountability and transparency from the university.
Eighteen-year-old Mohammed Sanogo was arrested June 15 in the Bob Carpenter Center parking lot, less than an hour after his Newark High School graduation. Cell phone video captured by witnesses went viral shortly after the incident, depicting officers lifting and throwing down Sanogo while arresting him.
Now, over 40 days after the arrest, UD has released both police body camera footage and surveillance footage from a nearby building.
Sanogo was charged with resisting arrest and reckless driving, but the state Department of Justice dropped those charges Thursday.
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What did body camera and building footage tell us?
A 22-minute compilation of body camera, building and witness video was released by UD Thursday. This video includes the first chance for the public to watch the events surrounding the arrest unfold from the police officers’ perspectives.
UD Police Chief Patrick Ogden narrates parts of the video and notes that “Officer 1” — whose badge shows he is Lt. Anthony Battle — had his battery die earlier in the night, so body camera footage from his perspective is not available. Video from “Officer 2,” Valerie Battles, depicts what happened during and after the arrest.
Also included are clips from a third officer’s body camera, rear dash footage from another car, and witness cell phone video that was the first to circulate publicly back in June.
“The University has stated and continues to maintain that UD police officers acted appropriately in addressing behavior that posed a risk to public safety,” a statement under the video reads. “The University will continue its review of this situation to look for learning opportunities.”
Building and body camera footage depict leadup to arrest
Surveillance footage overlooking the parking lot is shown at the 2:33 mark, with a spotlight on one car speeding through the lot with a passenger hanging out a window. That car was not Sanogo’s.
After the car is seen circling through the lot, UD officers approach three vehicles: Sanogo’s, another parked car, and the vehicle seen “recklessly driving.”
Officer Battles tells the car seen speeding through the lot to leave, which it does, along with the other parked car.
UD’s initial statement from June 21 and the arrest warrant obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal didn’t clarify that Sanogo was not operating the vehicle in which passengers were hanging out of windows.
“As noted in a publicly available arrest warrant, drivers of three vehicles were observed to have been operating those vehicles recklessly through a parking lot at the Bob Carpenter Center, including with passengers hanging out the windows of the vehicles,” UD’s June 21 statement reads.
Christina school board member Naveed Baqir said he believes the “carefully crafted and edited video” only raises more questions, referencing UD’s claims that have implied Sanogo was driving around the parking lot with someone hanging out of his window.
“The edited video shows dishonesty of UD to piece together an unrelated party’s reckless actions as a reason behind the decision to arrest Mohammed,” he wrote to Delaware Online/The News Journal.
As the other two cars left, Lt. Battle was talking to Sanogo, telling him to leave the lot. Sanogo leaves the parking spot at the 10-minute mark, where a screech from his car can be heard. He stops at the red light at the exit of the lot.
Though the two officers were standing on each side of Sanogo’s car, video does not indicate that Sanogo came close to hitting either officer as he drove away.
In UD’s first statement after the arrest, the university claimed Sanogo “posed a safety threat to the officers and others who were in close proximity to the vehicle” by the way he drove away from the parking spot.
Ogden states in the video that “the officers rapidly approached at this point, because they believed the defendant was attempting to flee, and feared that this erratic driving could potentially cause a collision.”
The two officers then walk over to where Sanogo is stopped at the light, and begin jogging. Battles yells at Sanogo and others inside to “put it in park,” while Lt. Battle tells Sanogo to “get out.”
Those in the car can be heard asking why the officers were stopping them. Battles tells them to “just listen.” Ogden states that officers ordered Sanogo to step out of his vehicle 12 times.
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What video shows about the arrest itself
Battles makes her way from the passenger side to the driver’s side, where body camera footage shows Lt. Battle attempting to place Sanogo under arrest. The arrest warrant claims that Sanogo “refused to place his hands behind his back and physically resisted.”
The officer then grabs Sanogo and takes him a few feet over to a grassed area. Lt. Battle picks him up and throws him down.
Officers then engage with Sanogo and wrestle in the grass in video footage that is mostly black from Battles’ perspective for nearly a minute. Eventually, Lt. Battle is successful in handcuffing Sanogo.
Officers attempt to calm down Sanogo, who repeatedly asks for his phone while handcuffed. A third officer, whose name badge is not discernible, tells Sanogo to “shut your mouth.”
Lt. Battle brings him over to the police car, as he continuously begs for his phone. Sanogo mentions that he was attempting to tell the officers “his condition” of asthma when they threw him on the ground.
After the police car door is opened, Sanogo asks if his brother can come with him or if he can contact his parents. Lt. Battle pushes him into the back seat.
Also included is body camera footage from a third officer. Ogden notes that this officer drove to the scene to assist the other officers and that he can be seen “displaying a taser and ordering passengers back into the car.”
“Get back, get back or you get tased,” the officer shouted at the passengers who had made their way outside Sanogo’s car.
Those passengers can be heard talking to Sanogo. “Momo, listen,” one said.
Why were DelDOT trucks surrounding Sanogo?
It is still unclear why trucks surrounded Sanogo’s stopped car at the traffic light before, during and after the arrest.
Multiple angles in UD’s video compilation show trucks at the red light near Sanogo’s car. Police body camera footage shows DelDOT logos on multiple trucks.
The University of Delaware did not immediately answer questions regarding DelDOT’s role in the event that night or why they were involved in this incident.
One truck is in front of Sanogo, another to the right and a third directly behind, according to the video. Rear dash footage shows that the truck in front of Sanogo never moved when the light turned green.
Ogden states that rear dash camera footage “shows the defendant attempting to maneuver around to the left and into the incoming traffic lane of a DelDOT truck that was stopped in front of his vehicle.”
According to Ogden, Sanogo’s vehicle was “too close to the DelDOT truck, unable to get around and began to back up as the officers approached.”
Body camera video from the third officer shows a conversation between him and a driver of the DelDOT truck behind Sanogo’s car.
“Are you good with us,” the driver asks. The officer responds, “Yeah, yeah.”
“If you guys wanna clear, I appreciate it,” the third officer tells the driver. The driver then walks up to the truck in front of Sanogo’s car, until body camera video pans the other way.
Christina board member Alethea Smith-Tucker said that in a school district meeting with UD the week after the incident, the university only referenced that a DelDOT truck was behind Sanogo, and not that there were any trucks in front of or beside him.
She said she’s “concerned about the lack of clarity (from UD) that Mohammed was boxed in.” To her, the surrounding trucks could certainly explain a sense of “heightened awareness and fear” in Sanogo.
At a board meeting earlier in July, Christina’s Board of Education unanimously passed a motion to suspend all graduations at the UD campus. The district didn’t hear about the June 15 incident until four days after, when UD responded to the district’s inquiries.
It is expected that board members will bring forth more motions regarding the district’s relationship and ties to UD at the upcoming August board meeting.
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Kelly Powers contributed reporting to this story.
Contact Konner Metz at kmetz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @konner_metz.
