Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse team’s personal objects, body camera reveals in any other case

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC/Grey News) - An incident that involved gamers from a college’s lacrosse staff and deputies in Georgia stays beneath investigation.

WTOC stories Delaware State University President Tony Allen released a press release on Monday responding to the incident that reportedly occurred on April 20 in Liberty County.

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

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

The staff was returning dwelling from a game in Florida and traveling by a contracted bus, based on Allen.

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

Physique digicam video obtained by WTOC, however, clearly confirmed the deputies going via the students’ bags and even medication.

The college president wrote in his assertion that movies 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,” said Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Participant. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and no one questioned them...we just let them rattle via our stuff.”

A participant on the bus requested: “How did we go from being in the improper lane to going through our bags?”

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

Nothing unlawful was discovered in the search, and Allen informed the general 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 also added the following:

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

Allen concluded his statement by writing, “We will never be bullied into believing something other than what we are: Individuals, learners, lecturers, builders—useful and honorable individuals able to soar.”

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