Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse crew’s personal items, body camera exhibits otherwise

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

WTOC experiences Delaware State College President Tony Allen launched an announcement 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 canines.

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

The workforce was returning dwelling from a sport in Florida and touring by a contracted bus, based on Allen.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a information conference about the incident however took no questions. He claimed that no personal items on the bus were searched.

Body digicam video obtained by WTOC, nonetheless, clearly showed the deputies going by way of the students’ luggage and even treatment.

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

“They didn’t really ask us,” mentioned Sydney Anderson, a Delaware State Lacrosse Player. “They knowledgeable us of what they’re gonna do and nobody questioned them...we simply allow them to rattle by our stuff.”

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

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

Nothing illegal was found within the search, and Allen informed 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 additionally added the following:

“We don't intend to let this or any other incident like it pass idly by. We are ready to go wherever the evidence leads us. We have video. We've got allies. Perhaps extra significantly, we've the courage of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his assertion by writing, “We will never be bullied into believing something apart from what we're: Americans, learners, academics, builders—helpful and honorable individuals ready to soar.”

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