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Osman Sesay

Age : 27

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 12/29/2021

Location : Dartmouth Avenue and Wayne Avenue

City : Silver Spring

County : Montgomery

State : Maryland

Agency : Montgomery County Police Department

Officer(s) :Officer Nathan Lenhart, Officer Karli Dorsey, Officer Dennis Tejada, Officer Eric Kessler

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during traffic stop

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 12/29/2021, Montgomery County Police Department officers Nathan Lenhart, Karli Dorsey, Dennis Tejada and Eric Kessler shot and killed Osman Sesay, 27, during a traffic stop at Wayne Avenue and Dartmouth Avenue in Silver Spring. The Maryland Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division investigated the shooting and later released body-camera footage, dashboard-camera footage and a detailed investigative report.
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The encounter began at approximately 4:25 a.m., when an off-duty Montgomery County police officer was alerted to a shooting outside a restaurant at 904 Bonifant Street. The officer received a description of the vehicle allegedly connected to that shooting from bystanders and relayed it to on-duty officers. Four minutes later, police saw a vehicle matching that description about half a mile away near Wayne and Dartmouth avenues. Officer Nathan Lenhart initiated the traffic stop.
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Sesay was a rear-seat passenger, rather than the driver as some early accounts reported. During the stop, Sesay got out of the rear passenger side of the vehicle while officers ordered him to remain inside. Police alleged that Sesay then pointed a handgun toward officers. The subsequently released police video shows Sesay emerging from the vehicle and raising what authorities identified as a handgun toward police.
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Lenhart, Dorsey, Tejada and Kessler opened fire. Sesay was struck multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered a handgun near him. The Maryland Attorney General reported that the officers' body-worn cameras were activated during the encounter, and dashboard-camera footage also captured portions of the shooting.
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The Maryland Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division conducted the investigation under a state law that had taken effect on 10/01/2021 requiring the Attorney General's office to investigate police-involved deaths. Investigators reviewed body-camera footage, officer and civilian interviews, DNA and firearms evidence, autopsy findings and the involved officers' personnel records.
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Because Montgomery and Howard counties had an agreement providing for reciprocal prosecutorial review of fatal police uses of force, the completed investigation was reviewed by the Howard County State's Attorney's Office. Prosecutors concluded that the officers' actions were legally justified and declined to file criminal charges.
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Sesay had previously sued Montgomery County police officers in federal court after being acquitted in 2018 of attempted first-degree murder and a firearm charge. His lawsuit alleged that a Montgomery County detective used false or misleading information to obtain the arrest warrant and asserted federal constitutional and Maryland false-arrest and false-imprisonment claims. This earlier litigation is notable because Sesay had already brought allegations of improper investigative conduct against the same police department several years before his fatal encounter with its officers.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The four officers who fired were Nathan Lenhart, Karli Dorsey, Dennis Tejada and Eric Kessler. The Maryland Attorney General's investigation included review of personnel records for the involved officers. The completed investigation was submitted for independent prosecutorial review, and the Howard County State's Attorney's Office declined to charge any of the four officers.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://oag.maryland.gov/resources-info/Pages/police-involved-incidents.aspx
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/SAO/Resources/Files/Police-Involved_Fatal_Incident_Montgomery_County_December_29_2021.pdf
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/SAO/mediacenter/pressrelease2021.html
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MDAG/bulletins/3055119
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/suspect-officers-involved-in-deadly-silver-spring-shootout-identified/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/31/authorities-id-man-shot-by-police/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/12/police-shooting-victim-pointed-gun/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/maryland/mddce/8%3A2018cv01924/425012/23/