Bodycam footage has captured the moment an asylum seeker who went to a school armed with a hammer, hatchet and a kitchen knife was wrestled to the ground by police.
Arrest at Edgar Wood Academy
Both Douk Deng, a 21-year-old South Sudanese national, was arrested after workmen confronted him on the premises of Edgar Wood Academy in Heywood, Greater Manchester, on August 6 last year. A member of the public had earlier raised the alarm after observing Deng “behaving oddly” in the street nearby en route to the secondary school, holding a petrol can with a hammer tied to his belt.
Deng was “mumbling” as he walked a “full circuit” around the school, which was closed to pupils for the summer. He scanned the building and then approached it before builders working on site became concerned and called the police.
CCTV and bodycam footage
CCTV footage released by Greater Manchester Police showed Deng kicking over a traffic cone as he walked into the school’s premises and then stamping on another road sign aggressively. He can also be seen appearing to wave, while carrying the green petrol can, at the workmen who approached him inside the school.
A police car then pulled up near the school and bodycam footage showed Deng wailing as he was wrestled to the ground by a police officer. Deng is told to “stop there” by the officer, who then tells him to “get on the ground now” as he attempts to run away. An officer can then be heard saying: “He does have a hammer with him as well. And a hatchet.”
Weapons found and charges
Footage then shows Deng being led away in handcuffs to a police van. Along with the hammer and hatchet, he was found to be in possession of a seven-inch kitchen knife and a jerry can containing half a litre of petrol.
Deng, of Heywood, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a range of offences including criminal damage and possessing weapons and a knife in a public place and on school premises.
