Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse staff’s personal items, body camera shows in any other case

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

WTOC studies Delaware State College President Tony Allen released a statement 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 site visitors violation with the Delaware State Lacrosse workforce 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 in any respect,” said a Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy.

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

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a news convention concerning the incident but took no questions. He claimed that no private objects on the bus were searched.

Body camera video obtained by WTOC, nevertheless, clearly showed the deputies going via the scholars’ bags and even medication.

The college president wrote in his assertion that movies taken by players showed legislation enforcement attempting 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 Player. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and nobody questioned them...we just let them rattle through our stuff.”

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

A deputy responded: “Effectively, he stopped y’all, he didn’t stop y’all for a traffic 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 officers.

Allen wrote that everybody was incensed over the incident.

Allen additionally added the next:

“We do not intend to let this or another incident like it go idly by. We are prepared to go wherever the proof leads us. We have video. We have allies. Maybe more significantly, we now have the courage of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his statement by writing, “We will by no means be bullied into believing something other than what we're: Individuals, learners, lecturers, builders—helpful and honorable people able to soar.”

Copyright 2022 WTOC by way of Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.