DOVER, Del.- A video was filmed by a Delaware State freshman lacrosse player on April 20th inside the team bus.
Players say it was the second time police came in after what was originally a routine traffic stop.
"If there is anything in y'all's luggage we're probably gonna find it okay," the deputy said. "I'm not looking for a little bit of marijuana but I'm pretty sure your guys' chaperones are probably going to be disappointed in you if we find it."
This afternoon, Liberty County, Georgia Sheriff William Bowman said that the search was legal.
"Once aboard, the deputy told the passengers the search would be completed," Sheriff Bowman said. "This is the same protocol to be expected no matter the race, gender, age, or destination of the passengers."
While an apology was not made that is what players, coaches, and DSU are waiting for. Goalie Molysha Brown says this was racial profiling due to the bus driver and most of the team being black.
"That was the first time he had seen anybody on the bus," Brown said. "That's the first time that he had seen we were a predominantly black lacrosse team. And then next thing you know they were coming back on the bus searching for narcotics and accusing us of trafficking and saying they could help us out if we just tell them that we have something."
But Sheriff Bowman says that isn't true.
"I do not exercise racial profiling, allow racial profiling, or encourage racial profiling," Sheriff Bowman said. "For what I have gathered, I believe the stop was legal but I also understand my duty to help the public understand law enforcement while seeking ways to improve services."
Brown says that she and her teammates think this never should have happened in the first place.
"Things are not the way they should be," Brown said. "Like we should have never been searched. As a women's lacrosse team coming back from a game and being accused of narcotics trafficking that was just entirely overwhelming."
An investigation will continue on why the team was stopped and searched for narcotics. The university is providing counseling for anyone on the team that needs it. Brown says she has not received counseling but plans on doing so.
