Delaware State University race discrimination complaint against sheriff’s bus stop resolved
Women’s lacrosse team claimed civil rights were violated
By This story has been updated.
DOVER — The U.S. Justice Department on Monday announced an agreement with the Liberty County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office to resolve a civil rights complaint regarding the stop of a Delaware State University team bus last year.
In May 2022, the department received a complaint from the school, a historically Black university, alleging that sheriff’s office members discriminated against its student-athletes, an athletic coach and a driver when it conducted a traffic stop of a bus chartered by the institution, a news release said.
The university also alleged that the subsequent questioning and search of the belongings of the primarily Black passengers, including through the use of a drug-sniffing dog, constituted unlawful race discrimination in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the release continued. Title VI prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin. The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office is a recipient of federal funding from the Justice Department.
The bus involved had been chartered by Delaware State to transport its women’s lacrosse squad.
Under the agreement, the news release said, the sheriff’s office will review its bias-free policies, make necessary updates to its policies on traffic enforcement and searches, and develop and implement data collection procedures, among other provisions.
On Tuesday, the university provided a statement through spokesman Carlos Holmes that read:
“DSU continues to stand in solidarity with our players. We disagree with the outcome of (the sheriff’s office’s) internal investigation which concluded that its officers acted consistent with the law. We hope that (the Department of Justice) will closely monitor and evaluate (the sheriff’s office’s) compliance with the terms of the agreement and, if necessary, reopen its investigation if (it) fails to meet its obligations.”
The Justice Department’s release included the following statement from its Civil Rights Division:
“Fairness and racial equity are fundamental principles for effective law enforcement, especially for those agencies that receive federal funding,” said assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke. “The students and staff at Delaware State University deserve policing that is racially equitable and bias-free. The agreement that we have secured with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office will help ensure that its policing practices are free from racial bias and discrimination going forward.
“We will continue working to ensure that federally funded law enforcement agencies comply with our federal civil rights laws.”
Further, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Jill Steinberg said, “Law enforcement is most effective when it is supported by public confidence. The agreement announced (Monday) is a step toward ensuring that policing occurs in an evenhanded manner.”
The traffic stop received national attention after women’s lacrosse player Sydney Anderson, a then-sophomore, wrote a story about the incident for The Hornet Newspaper’s website May 4, 2022.
At the time, university president Dr. Tony Allen described Ms. Anderson’s report as a “carefully crafted and thoughtful piece, supported by video footage and photos taken by the student-athletes and very consistent with the material facts of our own review.”
Ms. Anderson added, “In that moment, I knew we were being racially profiled, and I knew I had to do something about it. And I’m grateful that I was able to come out with the article because, if I didn’t, it would have been swept under the rug, and nobody would have known what we experienced in the hands of Georgia police.”
Also, she said that she hoped the article “can help prompt awareness for situations like this. Racial incidents get overlooked because people are hesitant to speak up, and I just want to stress the importance of using your voice, that you are powerful, that words are powerful.”
