Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse staff’s private items, body camera exhibits otherwise

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

WTOC experiences Delaware State University President Tony Allen launched 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 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 may’t be in that left lane in any respect,” mentioned a Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy.

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

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

Physique digicam video obtained by WTOC, nonetheless, clearly confirmed the deputies going by means of the scholars’ luggage and even medicine.

The college president wrote in his assertion that videos taken by gamers showed regulation enforcement making an attempt to intimidate them into confessing to possession of drugs and/or drug paraphernalia.

“They didn’t really ask us,” said Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Player. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and no one questioned them...we just let them rattle via our stuff.”

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

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

Nothing illegal was found within the search, and Allen knowledgeable the public that he has contacted Delaware’s governor, the Black Caucus and different 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 like it cross idly by. We're prepared to go wherever the evidence leads us. We have now video. We have now allies. Maybe more considerably, we've got the braveness of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his statement by writing, “We are going to by no means be bullied into believing something other than what we are: Individuals, learners, academics, builders—helpful and honorable folks able to soar.”

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