The Delaware State Lacrosse team’s season ended with several casualties on a road trip in mid-April, but it got worse on their bus journey home when Georgia police dramatically turned a traffic stop into a ham-fisted, unreasonable attempt. Drug bust
Sidney Anderson, a member of the team, wrote in a Delaware State student publication about what happened earlier this month. The Hornet (Slogan: “Strict Truth”). The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office stopped the bus, Anderson wrote, because they said it was driving in the left lane. Officers then got on the bus and tried to annoy the team members: the police were right I knew They had drugs, and they were going to find them. When team members said no, there were no drugs, police searched the players’ belongings on the side of the road. They even brought out a K-9.
Anderson writes, “Most members of the (A) team have never experienced an encounter with the police, it has become a traumatic event for them.”
Coach Pamela Jenkins, in Anderson’s article, said, “When I saw the police come on the bus and then charge us with drugs, I reminded them that as a black woman living in America, you are verified when you are trying to survive.”
One of the team’s players, Sania Kraft, shoots a clip of the officers on the bus. One said, “If you have something in your luggage, we’ll probably find it, right?” I’m not looking for marijuana, but I’m sure your friends will be disappointed if we find one. “
The article has attracted quite a bit of attention in Delaware. DSU President Tony Allen, Wrote a fairly angry statement Bold includes the following: “We do not want to allow this or that event to pass lazily. We are ready to go wherever the evidence takes us. We have the video. We have allies. Perhaps more importantly, we have the courage to believe. “Governor John Carney said the incident was” upsetting, disturbing and depressing. “
The Delaware News Journal, A Wilmington-based paper, has been followed more than once. Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman finally spoke about the incident in a public speech Tuesday:
He said after talking to deputies and reviewing video and other information about the incident, he “does not believe any racial profiling has taken place.”
“Before boarding the motorcoach, deputies did not know if the school was historically black or was aware of race or residents because of the height of the vehicle and the color of the windows,” Bowman said.
“As a veteran, a former Georgia state soldier and sheriff of this department, I do not practice ethnic profiling, do not allow ethnic profiling or encourage ethnic profiling.” Bowman said Tuesday that “no personal items or people (s) were searched on the bus” – denying the accounts of multiple people on the bus.
Delaware News Journal
Sheriff Bowman was lying. All the players on the bus spoke differently. And if you don’t believe them, News JournalIts Isabel Hughes and Kevin Tresolini received body cam footage from police officers to show the players rifling through their bags.
The footage also includes their stated argument for bag search:
Passengers were then told to stop, the deputy said, “That’s what we do.” He then described how their job was to stop commercial vehicles because drugs, “large sums of money” and child trafficking could be involved.
Delaware News Journal
It’s pretty weak – although in a long career covering drug policy and crime, I’ve seen things like this get caught up as a possible cause – and News Journal He has spoken to several lawyers who have said so. Talks with DSU President Allen Bowman. He left unmoved, saying Bowman had lied to him more than once in his conversations.
But what about the initial stop? Was it really valid? Not too much.
Also, a deputy told driver Tim Jones that he was dragged to the left of the three-lane car because there were no bus-like buses allowed. However, the Georgia Code actually means “truck” meaning “any vehicle equipped with more than six wheels except buses and motorcoaches.”
Delaware News Journal
If the police want to catch you, I think they will pull you over the law.