Five different agencies or institutions looked into the incident that led Deion Sanders’ son Shilo into bankruptcy last year. This is what they found.
These include the Dallas police, Shilo’s school, an insurance company, Texas child protective services, and a civil court in Dallas.
What did those agencies and institutions conclude?These include the Dallas police, Shilo’s school, an insurance company, Texas child protective services, and a civil court in Dallas.
None of them favored Shilo Sanders.
Four of those five official inquiries supported John Darjean, the school security guard who alleged he sustained permanent and severe spinal and nerve injuries following an incident in 2015, when Shilo was a 15-year-old ninth grader at FOCUS Academies in Dallas.
The fifth investigation initially favored Shilo but later gathered information that led it to change its conclusion, ultimately stating that fault was “unable to be determined.”
USA TODAY Sports also sought further clarification from Shilo’s attorney in Texas but did not receive a response.
Here’s a summary of the outcomes of each of the five inquiries following Darjean’s claim that Shilo threw a roundhouse elbow into his upper torso while Darjean was attempting to confiscate his phone at school. Darjean subsequently sued Shilo in civil court for his injuries and won a default judgment of $11.89 million in 2022—an overwhelming debt that prompted Shilo to file for bankruptcy in an effort to eliminate it.
The Things Dallas police said about the Shilo Sanders case
The bankruptcy case is still pending and may depend on the 2015 incident. Deion Sanders has claimed that Darjean’s allegations are false and characterized them as a money grab. Shilo Sanders stated that he acted in self-defense after being assaulted by Darjean. Additionally, Shilo’s attorneys have raised questions about whether Darjean’s injuries were pre-existing.
Dallas police provided the following information to USA TODAY Sports regarding the incident:
“On September 17, 2015, at approximately 11:55 AM, Dallas police responded to a call for service in the 2500 block of W Ledbetter Drive.
What the school found about the issue
The letter stated, “Video evidence supports your statement and the statement of the nearest employee in the area. You were trying to take the student’s cell phone away from him. You were struck in the upper chest area by the student’s elbow. You then attempted to restrain the student against the wall. The student pushed back against you, causing both of you to move off the wall. You attempted to restrain the student a second time against the wall and then moved the student to the floor to restrain him. At that point, other employees entered the area to assist.”
When USA TODAY Sports recently reached out to McClure, the school CEO, to inquire about the video, he responded, “I would have to refer you back to the letter I signed in 2015. Yes, I did my due diligence in reviewing different angles before I signed the letter. I have nothing to add or delete from the letter. The signed letter stands on its own. I have no idea where the video may be.”
