Connect with us

Social Justice

Delaware state files civil rights complaint against Georgia Sheriff’s over lacrosse team bus stop

In a letter to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, DSU President Dr. Tony Allen said the Liberty County Police Department’s stop of the bus was illegal, and that the players’ bags should not have been searched.

unheard voices magazine profile logo

Published

on

Delaware State University lacrosse
Photo : Delaware State University

Delaware State University has formally requested the United States Department of Justice to investigate possible civil rights violations during a traffic stop of the Women’s Lacrosse team bus in Georgia last month.

In a letter to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, DSU President Dr. Tony Allen said the Liberty County Police Department’s stop of the bus was illegal, and that the players’ bags should not have been searched.

“What we believe is that the search was conducted inappropriately and there was implicit racial bias in the search,” said Dr. Tony Allen, president of the historically Black university. “Even if they did not know who was on the bus at the time of the stop, there was certainly great certainty who was on that bus once they boarded it.”

Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team bus stopped and searched

On April 20, two sheriffs deputies from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department stopped the DSU bus while it was traveling on Interstate 95 in south Georgia. The team was on its way back from a game in Florida.

The deputies are seen on video, which was taken by one of the people on the bus, saying that they are looking for drugs. They later used dogs to sniff through the student-athletes’ belongings, including their underwear.

“If there is anything in y’all’s luggage, we are probably going to find it,” one deputy says.

DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe To Newsletter

Receive the latest in news, music, and issues that matter. 

Invalid email address
Give it a try. You can unsubscribe at any time. We will never spam your inbox.

Officers speaking to the bus driver during the stop said they were pulled over for being a commercial vehicle in the left lane, but DSU cites a Georgia law that exempts buses from the restriction against commercial trucks.

See also  Georgia men charged with federal hate crime in connection to Ahmaud Arbery's death

“The illegal behavior exhibited by these officers, the repeated misstatements by the sheriff (both about the law and the facts), the attempt to obscure the facts, the failure to turn over immediately all of the videos from the encounter, and the racial disparity evident to anyone who views the videos make it clear that neither the sheriff’s office nor local officials can be trusted to investigate this incident completely and impartially.”

The deputies ultimately did not find any drugs during the search and the driver was issued a warning for the lane violation.

DSU will seek justice

In a statement, Allen said DSU will continue to fight until justice is rightfully sought.

“We do not intend to let this or any other incident like it pass idly by. We are prepared to go wherever the evidence leads us. We have video. We have allies. Perhaps more significantly, we have the courage of our convictions.”


----------------------------------------------------------
Connect with Unheard Voices on X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube

Download the app on Google Play or ITunes.
----------------------------------------------------------
Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to broadening into a recognized Black online media outlet. The company is one of the few outlets dedicated to covering social justice issues. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Archives

Tags

unheard voices shop
unheard voices on google play unheard voices on itunes

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Unheard Voices Magazine®️
Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Please note we may make commission from links.