Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse staff’s personal objects, body camera shows otherwise

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC/Gray News) - An incident that involved players from a university’s lacrosse workforce and deputies in Georgia remains beneath investigation.

WTOC experiences Delaware State College President Tony Allen released an announcement on Monday responding to the incident that reportedly happened on April 20 in Liberty County.

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

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

The group was returning home from a game in Florida and traveling by a contracted bus, in accordance with Allen.

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

Physique digicam video obtained by WTOC, however, clearly showed the deputies going by the scholars’ bags and even remedy.

The college president wrote in his statement that movies taken by gamers confirmed law enforcement making an attempt to intimidate them into confessing to possession of medication and/or drug paraphernalia.

“They didn’t really ask us,” mentioned Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Participant. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and nobody questioned them...we just let them rattle via our stuff.”

A participant on the bus asked: “How did we go from being within the unsuitable lane to going by our bags?”

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

Nothing illegal was found within the search, and Allen knowledgeable the general public that he has contacted Delaware’s governor, the Black Caucus and other state officials.

Allen wrote that everybody was incensed over the incident.

Allen also added the following:

“We don't intend to let this or every other incident prefer it pass idly by. We are ready to go wherever the proof leads us. We've got video. We now have allies. Maybe more considerably, we've got the courage of our convictions.”

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

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