Mohamed Traore was arrested Thursday night on a two-year-old OWI charge shortly after the end of a meeting of the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he chairs.

Traore said he was standing outside Iowa City Hall speaking with his fellow commissioners when he was approached by an Iowa City police officer. After the officer confirmed the validity of a warrant with Traore, he was taken to the Johnson County Jail and was later released.

“It really just happened out of nowhere,” Traore told the Press-Citizen. “(The officer) told me there was a warrant out for me, to which I was pretty surprised. Said it was from 2019, which I was also really surprised about.”

The OWI charge against Traore was from January 2019 and was the second such charge, according to Iowa court records. Traore pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to seven days in jail starting in August of that year.

Traore said he will now have to schedule a time before January to serve the six days left on his sentence. He said there aren’t any new charges against him.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said Traore was given a timeframe to schedule his sentence and to her understanding he didn’t do that. She said the type of warrant that was issued is able to be served anytime or anywhere.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said Traore was given a timeframe to schedule his sentence and to her understanding he didn’t do that. She said the type of warrant that was issued is able to be served anytime or anywhere.

During the last 2½ years, Traore has become a public figure as a TRC commissioner, and later its chair, and often finds himself in Iowa City Hall for the meetings.

Traore said since 2019 he has also been in the Johnson County Courthouse to give moral support to people in their court cases and even spoke to police officers and Chief Dustin Liston at an event last week. He said he was baffled that he wasn’t made aware previously that there was an active warrant out for him.

“I’m not understanding how I can be around all these city officials and all these officers for months and months and months on end, including last week even, and never hear about this. And then suddenly I’m on my way home to go to bed and here I am in handcuffs,” he said.

Traore said he wasn’t aware that he had not served the seven-day sentence.

His probation officer, who he met with as recently as Tuesday, also did not inform him about the warrant, Traore said.

“I didn’t know that that seven days was still on there. Maybe it had slipped my mind or something but I don’t remember being made aware of it again,” he said.

Traore’s arrest comes as the TRC is in the midst of its mission to help Iowa City come to terms with its history of systemic racism. The commission is supposed to come to the Iowa City Council with its findings and make a set of recommendations based on them.

These findings could theoretically include ways the city could change or improve its policing and public safety models.

A press release from ICPD on Friday said that, while the officers acted in accordance with the law, the city acknowledges the situation could have been addressed in a more private manner removed from the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission meeting.

“While I believe our officers were acting with the best intentions, I am keenly aware of the message the timing of this arrest sends to our community,” Liston said. “We support the mission of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will continue to work to build trust with members of the community.”

Traore said he is home now and is still committed to the goals of the TRC.

“I still have things to get done. I still have a life to live. I still got a job to work. I still have a commission to be on,” he said.