Charges against Newark High student dropped; UD releases body cam footage of arrest
By: 0:00 - Intro
0:49 - Surveillance video
6:37 - Body cam 1
14:06 - Body cam 2
17:23 - Civilian dash cam
17:45 - Cell phone video 1
17:59 - Cell phone video 2
18:26 - Cell phone video 3
-----
An 18-year-old Newark High School graduate thrown to the ground and arrested by University of Delaware Police last month will no longer face charges, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.
Mohammed Sanogo was arrested June 15, less than an hour after graduation ended at the university’s Bob Carpenter Center, and later charged with reckless driving and resisting arrest.
Now those charges have been dropped after extensive review by the state Department of Justice. The state examined body camera and surveillance footage, talked to university police and had Sanogo attend a "Department of Justice-sanctioned course" last week, according to a letter submitted to the clerk of court.
UD released video of the arrest Thursday, which includes surveillance footage from a building and body camera footage. It's the first time the video, which spans more than 22 minutes, has been made public since the June 15 incident.
"On July 27, the Office of Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings filed documentation communicating that a resolution had been reached in the case, with Mr. Sanogo accepting responsibility for his actions," UD stated on its police website.
Court records read that the state DOJ is "satisfied" that Sanogo now "understands how his actions that evening contributed to a dangerous situation." A hearing had previously been scheduled for Thursday morning.
"Prosecuting Mr. Sanogo would not advance the cause of justice or public safety, and it is the State's strong belief that a measured resolution is in the larger community's best interest," state prosecutor Daniel Logan wrote in a letter to the court's clerk.
The arrest spurred reaction throughout the community, with eyewitness accounts and videos calling into question the validity of the charges and the actions of the police officers that made the arrest.
Sanogo, a 4.0 GPA student at Newark High looking to study at the University of Maryland, received outpourings of support for his character from friends and community members since the incident. Forty-one letters of support were written to the state, court records state.
The Christina school board unanimously voted to move its graduations off campus last month, as UD’s arrest of its student and the communication afterward has soured relations with the school district.
The university didn’t notify the Christina School District about the arrest until around four days later.