A college women’s lacrosse team feels traumatized after its charter bus was stopped by police while traveling through Georgia, an incident that has left the school’s president “incensed.”
The Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team was traveling north on I-95 in Liberty County, Georgia, southwest of Savannah, on April 20. The Hornets were returning home after playing their final game of the season at Stetson University in Deland, Florida, on April 19.
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Bus driver Tim Jones was initially told he was improperly traveling in the left lane when the bus was pulled over, according to DSU’s student publication The Hornet Newspaper and its website thehornetonline.com. The incident was first detailed there in a story that published Friday written by Sydney Anderson, a sophomore lacrosse player who was on the bus.
Video accompanying the story taken by DSU player Saniya Craft shows an officer saying, “If there is anything in y’all’s luggage, we’re probably gonna find it, OK? I’m not looking for a little bit of marijuana but I’m pretty sure you guys’ chaperones are probably gonna be disappointed in you if we find any.”
By that time, Liberty County Sheriff’s Office deputies had begun removing players’ bags from the vehicle’s cargo bay to search after asking Jones to open it. Police had a drug-sniffing dog at the scene.
Deputies knew those on board were on a lacrosse team.
“If there is something in there that’s questionable,” the deputy speaking on the bus said, “please tell me now, because if we find it, guess what? We’re not gonna be able to help you.”
The law enforcement personnel on and outside the bus were white in photos and video accompanying thehornetonline.com’s account. Most, but not all, of the players and coaches on the bus were Black.
DSU president Tony Allen informed the university community about the incident in a letter early Monday. In it, Allen said DSU has informed Delaware Gov. John Carney, the state Attorney General’s office, Delaware’s congressional delegation and the Congressional Black Caucus about the incident.
“They, like me, are incensed,” Allen wrote. “We have also reached out to Georgia Law Enforcement and are exploring options for recourse – legal and otherwise – available to our student-athletes, our coaches, and the university.”
Delaware State coach Pamella Jenkins called the incident “very traumatizing” on Monday and credited team members for staying “composed.”
When team members saw their luggage being removed before a deputy had begun his explanation, they were stunned, Jenkins said.
“The infuriating thing was the assumption of guilt on their (deputies’) behalf,” Jenkins said. “That was what made me so upset because I trust my girls.”
“One of my student-athletes asked them ‘How did we go from a routine traffic stop to narcotics-sniffing dogs going through our belongings?’ ” Jenkins said. “The police officer said that on this stretch of highway there are a lot of buses that are smuggling people and narcotics and they have to be diligent.’ “
Gov. Carney released a statement Monday calling the video “upsetting, concerning and disappointing.”
“Moments like these should be relegated to part of our country’s complicated history,” Carney said, “but they continue to occur with sad regularity in communities across our country. It’s especially hard when it impacts our own community.”
When contacted Monday morning, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office said it would have a statement by the end of the day but nothing was provided.
In bold type, Allen also wrote in his email to the DSU community: “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.”
The Atlantic Sun Conference member Hornets had also played at Kennesaw State…
Read More: Delaware State lacrosse team’s bus stopped and searched in Georgia