Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse team’s personal items, body camera reveals otherwise

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC/Grey News) - An incident that concerned players from a university’s lacrosse group and deputies in Georgia stays below investigation.

WTOC reports Delaware State University President Tony Allen released a statement on Monday responding to the incident that reportedly happened on April 20 in Liberty County.

Allen wrote Georgia regulation enforcement stopped a bus for a minor visitors violation with the Delaware State Lacrosse team on board. Deputies searched the belongings of the student-athletes, including suitcases with drug-sniffing dogs.

“100% you may’t be in that left lane in any respect,” stated a Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy.

The workforce was returning home from a sport in Florida and traveling by a contracted bus, in line with Allen.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a information convention about the incident however took no questions. He claimed that no personal objects on the bus have been searched.

Physique digicam video obtained by WTOC, nevertheless, clearly confirmed the deputies going through the students’ baggage and even remedy.

The college president wrote in his assertion that videos taken by gamers showed regulation enforcement attempting to intimidate them into confessing to possession of drugs and/or drug paraphernalia.

“They didn’t actually ask us,” mentioned Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Player. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and nobody questioned them...we just allow them to rattle by means of our stuff.”

A participant on the bus requested: “How did we go from being within the fallacious lane to going by way of our bags?”

A deputy responded: “Effectively, he stopped y’all, he didn’t stop y’all for a visitors violation...he stopped the driver for a traffic violation.”

Nothing unlawful was found in the search, and Allen informed the public that he has contacted Delaware’s governor, the Black Caucus and other state officials.

Allen wrote that everyone was incensed over the incident.

Allen additionally added the following:

“We don't intend to let this or another incident like it go idly by. We're prepared to go wherever the evidence leads us. We now have video. We've got allies. Maybe more significantly, now we have the braveness of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his assertion by writing, “We will by no means be bullied into believing anything aside from what we are: Individuals, learners, teachers, builders—useful and honorable individuals able to soar.”

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