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

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

WTOC reviews Delaware State University President Tony Allen launched a press release 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 workforce on board. Deputies searched the belongings of the student-athletes, including suitcases with drug-sniffing canine.

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

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

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a news convention in regards to the incident however took no questions. He claimed that no personal items on the bus were searched.

Body digital camera video obtained by WTOC, however, clearly confirmed the deputies going by means of the students’ bags and even medication.

The college president wrote in his statement that videos taken by players showed law enforcement making an attempt to intimidate them into confessing to possession of medicine and/or drug paraphernalia.

“They didn’t actually ask us,” mentioned Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Participant. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and no one questioned them...we simply let them rattle by way of our stuff.”

A player on the bus asked: “How did we go from being in the mistaken lane to going by our bags?”

A deputy responded: “Nicely, he stopped y’all, he didn’t cease y’all for a traffic violation...he stopped the driving force for a traffic violation.”

Nothing illegal was discovered in the search, and Allen knowledgeable the public that he has contacted Delaware’s governor, the Black Caucus and other state officers.

Allen wrote that everyone was incensed over the incident.

Allen additionally added the next:

“We do not intend to let this or another incident prefer it pass idly by. We're ready to go wherever the evidence leads us. We've video. We've got allies. Perhaps extra significantly, we have the braveness of our convictions.”

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

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