Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse staff’s personal items, body camera shows otherwise

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC/Grey News) - An incident that involved players from a college’s lacrosse workforce and deputies in Georgia stays beneath investigation.

WTOC reviews Delaware State University President Tony Allen launched an announcement on Monday responding to the incident that reportedly happened on April 20 in Liberty County.

Allen wrote Georgia regulation enforcement stopped a bus for a minor site visitors violation with the Delaware State Lacrosse group on board. Deputies searched the belongings of the student-athletes, together with suitcases with drug-sniffing canines.

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

The group was returning residence from a game in Florida and touring by a contracted bus, in accordance with 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 have been searched.

Body digicam video obtained by WTOC, nevertheless, clearly confirmed the deputies going through the students’ luggage and even remedy.

The college president wrote in his statement that videos taken by players confirmed 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 nobody questioned them...we simply allow them to rattle via our stuff.”

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

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

Nothing illegal was found in 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 also added the following:

“We do not intend to let this or another incident prefer it move idly by. We are prepared to go wherever the proof leads us. We have video. We have now allies. Maybe more considerably, we've the braveness of our convictions.”

Allen concluded his assertion by writing, “We will never be bullied into believing something other than what we're: Individuals, learners, academics, builders—useful and honorable folks ready to soar.”

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