The story surrounding the Georgia Police’s stop and search of the Delaware State women’s lacrosse team becomes more suspect as the story unfolds across the media.
It all began on April 20th when the team was traveling north on I-95 through Liberty County, Georgia. The Hornets were returning to campus after their final game of the season against Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.
That’s when Liberty County Sherriff deputies stopped and boarded their bus.
According to the story in the Hornet Online written by sophomore lacrosse player Sydney Anderson who was on the bus, the bus driver was told that he was pulled over because he was driving improperly in the left lane, which is a traffic violation.
The deputies then informed the students that, as Anderson writes, “they would be checking their luggage for any possible narcotics, such as marijuana, heroin, methane, and ketamine.”
One of the officers said “If there is anything in your luggage, we’re probably gonna find it….I’m not looking for a little marijuana, but I’m pretty sure you guys chaperones will probably be disappointed if we find it.
“If there is something in there that is questionable, please tell me now because, guess what.. we’re not gonna be able to help.”
Despite pleas from the players that they weren’t in possession of any drugs, the officers opened their bags in search of illegal substances.
To make the situation even more nerve-wracking, four additional officers arrived on the scene, the player’s personal effects were tossed out of their bags and a K-9 dog was ultimately brought on board to sniff their luggage.
The driver was also instructed to open the bus’ cargo bay to extend their search.
Anderson writes that officers justified their actions by claiming they were searching for illegal drugs and signs of child trafficking.
On a bus with women’s lacrosse players.
And lacrosse equipment.
And their coach.
It was a humiliating and traumatic experience for the entire team.
“When I saw the police come on the bus and then accuse us of having narcotics, I was reminded that living as black women in America, you are scrutinized when just trying to live,” said DSU head women’s lacrosse coach Pamella Jenkins. “Unfortunately this is our reality daily and when they go low we must go high. I’m proud of how our team stayed calm…It’s been a stressful few days, but our team handled that tense situation with the utmost class and respect.”
Jenkins and her players feel it was a case of racial profiling, a charge Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman denied.
“Before entering the motorcoach, the deputies were not aware that this school was historically Black or aware of the race or the occupants due to the height of the vehicle and tint of the windows,” said Bowman.
“As a veteran, a former Georgia state trooper and the sheriff for this department, I do not exercise racial profiling, allow racial profiling or encourage racial profiling.”
Bowman, who is Black, stood by his deputies and refused to admonish them.
And despite bodycam footage refuting his claim that “no personal items on the bus or person were searched,”, Sherriff Bowman doesn’t “believe any racial profiling took place.”
But Delaware State president Tony Allen took great offense over the incident and expressed his outrage in a letter addressed to the entire University.
“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,” wrote Allen.
“It should not be lost on any of us how thin any day’s line is between customary and extraordinary, between humdrum and exceptional, between safe and victimized. That is true for us all but particularly so for communities of color and the institutions who serve them. The resultant feelings of disempowerment are always the aggressors’ object.”
Allen also noted that he reached out to Delaware’s Governor, Congressional delegation, Attorney General, and Black Caucus. In addition, he contacted Georgia law enforcement and are exploring all recourse options.
“It has become abundantly more clear that this incident must be investigated by objective, external authorities. We continue to push forward toward that objective,” said Allen.
Delaware’s Attorney General, Kathleen Jennings, has requested the U.S. Justice Department review the incident.
The Truth is Rooted in History
According to the story by USA Today, “Under Georgia law, an officer who legally stops a car ‘can shift into a criminal investigation so long as the officer can articulate reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring,’ according to a 2014 opinion published by the Georgia Supreme Court.”
Yet the more you hear about this story, the more suspect the deputies’ actions become.
When they boarded the bus and saw the traveling college team, why were they detained?
If it was a traffic violation, why bring a K-9 dog brought on board?
If the driver committed a driving offense, why not just issue a citation?
If they intended to search the bus, where was the warrant, or at least the probable cause?
Why was the issue of child trafficking brought up to a busload of college athletes?
And how did the situation escalate so quickly from a traffic stop to a search for drugs and trafficked children?
Patrick Campanelli, a Chicago civil rights attorney and father of DSU lacrosse player, Emily Campanelli, who was on that bus, summed it up perfectly.
“I’ve been a criminal defense lawyer for a real long time and I knew exactly what the officer was doing,” said Patrick Campanelli. “He was trying to force statements out of people.”
And that is exactly what Black people, like the majority of players and coaches on that bus, have suffered through forever.
We’ve witnessed it time and time again.
Remember the infamous 1989 Central Park jogger case where five innocent Black and Latino teens were improperly arrested and detained for hours until they falsely admitted they rapped the jogger?
Couple those tactics of intimidation and exhaustion with the vicious actions by the former president who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times that year, calling for the death penalty in their case, and you understand how those young boys were coerced into breaking.
History tells us to be informed and cognizant of these incidents.
“It’s an inherent issue here that once again goes to the pretextual stops of minorities,” stated Patrick Campanelli.
“Simply stopping a bus filled with African Americans and subjecting them to that (search) raises grave civil rights concerns,” said Gerald Griggs, president of Georgia’s state NAACP chapter and an attorney and activist.
“We’ve had many of these incidents in which passengers and vehicles have been stopped under the pretext of some type of traffic violation and then subjected to prolonged searches on the side of the road.”
That’s why you must question the deputies’ actions.
The list of the victims of police brutality, racial profiling and false justifications and accusations is long and documented for all to see.
That’s why it’s important to believe and support the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team and recognize this situation for what it was and is.
Suspect, illegal and wrong.
