Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse team’s personal objects, body digicam exhibits otherwise

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

WTOC reviews Delaware State College President Tony Allen released 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 traffic violation with the Delaware State Lacrosse team on board. Deputies searched the belongings of the student-athletes, together with suitcases with drug-sniffing dogs.

“100% you'll be able to’t be in that left lane at all,” said a Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy.

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

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a news conference concerning the incident but took no questions. He claimed that no private items on the bus had been searched.

Physique camera video obtained by WTOC, nevertheless, clearly showed the deputies going via the students’ baggage and even medicine.

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

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

A player on the bus requested: “How did we go from being within the incorrect lane to going through our bags?”

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

Nothing illegal was discovered within the search, and Allen informed the general public that he has contacted Delaware’s governor, the Black Caucus and different state officials.

Allen wrote that everybody was incensed over the incident.

Allen additionally added the next:

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

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

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