Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse team’s private items, body camera exhibits in any other case

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

WTOC experiences 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 legislation enforcement stopped a bus for a minor 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,” stated a Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy.

The staff was returning home from a sport in Florida and touring by a contracted bus, in keeping with Allen.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a news conference in regards to the incident but took no questions. He claimed that no personal objects on the bus have been searched.

Body camera video obtained by WTOC, nonetheless, clearly showed the deputies going by way of the scholars’ bags and even medication.

The university president wrote in his statement that videos taken by players showed legislation enforcement attempting to intimidate them into confessing to possession of medication and/or drug paraphernalia.

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

A player on the bus requested: “How did we go from being in the incorrect lane to going by way of our luggage?”

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

Nothing illegal was found in the search, and Allen knowledgeable the general 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 also added the following:

“We do not intend to let this or some other incident like it move idly by. We're prepared to go wherever the proof leads us. Now we have video. Now we have allies. Perhaps more considerably, we have the courage of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his assertion by writing, “We'll by no means be bullied into believing something other than what we are: People, learners, lecturers, builders—useful and honorable folks ready to soar.”

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