Sheriff claims deputies didn’t search lacrosse workforce’s personal gadgets, body digicam shows otherwise

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

WTOC experiences Delaware State College President Tony Allen launched a press release on Monday responding to the incident that reportedly occurred on April 20 in Liberty County.

Allen wrote Georgia law enforcement stopped a bus for a minor traffic violation with the Delaware State Lacrosse group on board. Deputies searched the belongings of the student-athletes, including 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 home from a sport in Florida and traveling by a contracted bus, in line with Allen.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a information conference concerning the incident but took no questions. He claimed that no private gadgets on the bus were searched.

Physique camera video obtained by WTOC, nevertheless, clearly showed the deputies going through the scholars’ bags and even remedy.

The university president wrote in his assertion that movies taken by gamers showed law enforcement attempting to intimidate them into confessing to possession of medicine and/or drug paraphernalia.

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

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

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

Nothing unlawful was found within the search, and Allen knowledgeable the 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 following:

“We don't intend to let this or some other incident prefer it pass idly by. We are ready to go wherever the evidence leads us. We now have video. We've got allies. Maybe more considerably, we have the braveness of our convictions.”

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

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