Brilliant Young Man Arrested Outside Graduation Ceremony Raises Anger, Allegations Of Bias

Cursory: Mohammed Sanogo, a recent graduate of Newark High School, was thrown to the ground and arrested by University of Delaware Police after his graduation ceremony. The incident occurred in the parking lot following a group prayer with his friends. Supporters of Sanogo and members of the local Muslim community expressed anger and concerns about bias and police misconduct. The University of Delaware Police Department is conducting an internal review, but officials have provided limited information.

Graduating highschool is one of the many important milestones a lot of people hope to achieve. The immense relief that comes with walking across the stage to collect the certificate, almost like one has been holding their breath for too long.

Imagine going through something that is very traumatizing, that if not for timely intervention could have ended in your death on graduation day. That sounds terrible right? But it gets worse, because you can’t run to the law to protect you owing to the fact that it is your assailant.

For Mohammed Sanogo, a distinguished student with a GPA above 4.0 at Newark High School, graduated on June 15, he didn’t have to imagine it, because he lived through it.

Soon after receiving his diploma at the Bob Carpenter Center, he was subjected to a distressing event. While participating in a group prayer with friends in the parking lot, Sanogo was unexpectedly thrown to the ground and arrested by University of Delaware Police.

This incident has prompted school officials to seek explanations from the university and has raised concerns among Sanogo’s supporters and leaders in the local Muslim community regarding potential bias and police misconduct.

“Even a small incident can have a huge implication on the mental health of a child,” said Irfan Patel, representing the Delaware Interfaith Council and the Islamic Society of Delaware.

“This was supposed to be a celebration for this newly minted graduate of the school district. Now this scar is going to live with him forever.”

During the Christina School District board meeting on Tuesday night, Mohammed Sanogo, along with his family and around 30 supporters, attended to express their anger regarding the incident.

Although the Sanogo family chose not to speak publicly, Corey Gardner, a friend who was present with Sanogo after the graduation, shared his recollection of the event with the board.

Gardner explained that after the ceremony, he, Sanogo, and a group of others gathered in the parking lot to engage in prayer.

At that moment, a police officer approached them and instructed them to leave, stating that they were not permitted to be there.“The police were provoking us that day,” Gardner said.

“Thursday night, the police were already mad. I don’t know what they were mad at.”

The teens got in their car and, with Sanogo driving, began to leave.“His tires made a noise, and they sounded like they were drifting but they were not drifting,” Gardner said, adding that the noise apparently angered the police officers.

“The police came over, they started running at us,” he said.

“They had tasers drawn at us, flashlights in our face, banging on the windows.”

The officers instructed Sanogo to exit the vehicle, and footage captured on a cell phone seems to depict an officer lifting the teenager and forcefully throwing him to the ground.

Another video shows Sanogo lying face down in a flower bed with two University of Delaware (UD) officers attempting to restrain him and place handcuffs on him.

At one moment, Sanogo can be observed making an effort to free himself from the officers’ grip and rise to his feet. Gardner stated that Sanogo, who suffers from asthma, was audibly expressing that he was unable to breathe.

Gardner was videoing the incident, and at one point officers threatened to tase him if he didn’t step back.“That was traumatic,” he said.

“That was not supposed to go down.”

Sanogo, 18, was charged with reckless driving and resisting arrest. He was released on $200 unsecured bail.UD officials would not agree to an interview about the incident or release even basic details of the events leading up to the arrest.

Disclosing a short summary of an alleged incident is considered standard procedure at most other police departments in the state.In an emailed statement, UD spokesman Peter Bothum said the incident is subject to a standard review procedure.

“As a nationally accredited police agency, UDPD maintains policies and procedures that require a comprehensive investigation and review of all reports of response to resistance,” the statement read.

“This is a standard practice in all cases and is currently underway in this matter.”

“As a nationally accredited police agency, UDPD maintains policies and procedures that require a comprehensive investigation and review of all reports of response to resistance,” the statement read.

“This is a standard practice in all cases and is currently underway in this matter.”

Bothum, the UD spokesperson, did not provide any responses to a detailed list of questions from the Newark Post. Although the university’s website states that all police officers are equipped with body-worn cameras, officials did not confirm whether the officers involved in Sanogo’s arrest had theirs activated.

Superintendent Dan Shelton of the Christina School District reached out to UD Police Chief Patrick Ogden to discuss the incident, but Ogden declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Shelton also attempted to contact UD President Dennis Assanis but did not receive a response. Naveed Baqir, a school board member, requested that UD send a representative to the board meeting on Tuesday, but no one from the university attended.

Baqir expressed disappointment at the silence, emphasizing that the lack of a response when requesting an explanation from UD was disheartening.

Baqir expressed his confusion regarding how Sanogo could have driven recklessly in a parking lot, covering only a short distance.

According to Delaware code, reckless driving is defined as driving with a “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property,” and it carries penalties of a fine ranging from $100 to $300 and/or imprisonment for 10 to 30 days.

Baqir acknowledged hearing allegations that Sanogo’s passengers were hanging out of the car windows, but he asserted that even if those allegations were true, they would not justify the treatment the teenager received.

“The response does not match the infraction they are alleging,” he said.

“They’re playing with the future of a young bright kid without any regard.”Watching video of the incident was sickening, he said.

“I feared as I was watching it this was another George Floyd moment,” Baqir said.

He conveyed his dissatisfaction with UD’s failure to notify Newark High or Christina officials about the incident, with the district learning about it only after Sanogo’s family reached out to Baqir. Patel, representing the interfaith council, emphasized his responsibility to safeguard Delawareans from being targeted based on their faith. He expressed apprehension that bias may have influenced the incident involving UD.

“I think the UD cops initially started engaging them when they were praying, so we need to find out if that had any kind of implication on the sequence of events that followed,” Patel said.

“Reckless driving is not the kind of charge that would spawn this kind of reaction. The reaction was irrational.”

New Castle County Councilman Jea Street said he believes the incident is part of a pattern of UD discriminating against Black people. He told the board that Christina should have known that and better protected its students.

“For 50 some years I know about, children of color, especially high school children, have not been welcome at the University of Delaware,” Street said.

“For the district not to have someone from the school present before, during and after, you’re complicit.Christina board member Alethea Smith-Tucker said UD owes the district an explanation.

“We are a client of the University of Delaware. They have a responsibility to provide us a detailed accounting of what happened,” Smith-Tucker said,

“We’re paying to use their facility and we need to understand what kind of relationship we have with that organization.”

Similar to other school districts in the vicinity, Christina has been paying for the usage of the Bob Carpenter Center for their graduation ceremonies, as it offers a larger space compared to district-owned facilities.

In 2019, the latest year with accessible data, Christina made a payment of approximately $40,000 to UD for a three-day rental of the venue, along with the necessary staff, which included several UD Police officers.

Board member Donald Patton asserted that it is now imperative for Christina to reassess its business affiliation with UD.

“As a black man, I’m getting tired of seeing this kind of stuff. I don’t care what they did. It wasn’t a violent act, it wasn’t a threatening act,” Patton said.

“Our kids have a right to leave their houses, to graduate from high school and not be attacked the way this kid was, pulled out of his car and thrown to the ground.”

Patton expressed his contemplation of introducing a resolution that urges the district to terminate its business association with UD unless the university issues an apology for the incident. He emphasized the importance of conveying a strong message to UD that they are resolute and committed to ensuring a proper, effective, and timely resolution to the matter.

“The message needs to be sent to them that we are very clear and very serious that this be dealt with appropriately, effectively and timely,” Patton said.

Source: Newwark Post Online

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