Probe into Delaware State University team bus stop continues
By DOVER - A federal civil rights investigation into a law enforcement stop of a bus transporting the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team in Georgia last spring is ongoing.
That was according to United States Department of Justice spokesperson Aryele Howard, who said on Friday that the matter “is ongoing, so we do not have a comment at this time.”
University spokesperson Carlos Holmes said Friday that the school does not comment on pending litigation.
The University filed the complaint against the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office regarding a stop on April 20, 2022 on Interstate 95, The team was returning to Dover following a tournament in Florida.
An attempt to reach the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Friday was unsuccessful,
A letter sent to Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, on May 18, 2022 alleged that deputies “illegally pulled over the charter bus in which our female lacrosse team members and their coaches were riding to conduct an improper search of their personal belongings without consent, without probable cause, and without even articulable suspicion.”
Additionally, the University’s complaint maintained that “Surely the DSU Women’s Lacrosse Team is not the first or only group of people — more particularly, people of color — to have been subjected to this type of illegal behavior.
“But for their bravery, composure, and presence of mind to record portions of this illegal stop, we might never have known its full extent.”
The correspondence asked for “investigation into these officers’ conduct and into the Sheriff Department’s practices and procedures that encouraged, supported, or permitted these discriminatory acts to occur.”
An article by Hornets’ lacrosse player Sydney Anderson on the incident sparked interest that garnered national attention. The recap was published in the school’s The Hornet Newspaper “The Stinging Truth” on May 4, 2022 with a headline “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia.”
Ms. Anderson, now a junior, was awarded the 2022 Tina Sloan Green Award by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Associations at a banquet in Dallas, Texas in November 2022. The association said the award recognizes teams or individuals working to promote equity and inclusion in the lacrosse community.
Also in the news release, Ms. Anderson said, in part, “When writing the article about the racial discrimination my teammates and I endured in Liberty County, Georgia, I never envisioned the amount of support and love we would receive.
“Although what we experienced was traumatic, it only made us stronger as a team and I am happy to have initiated change.
"While I don’t know what my future endures, I do know I will continue to use my voice to evoke change for a better, safer, and more equal society.”
In a letter of recommendation for Ms. Anderson her coach Pamella Jenkins expressed in part that “Sydney is a trailblazer for change.
“She has been a mentor, led by example, and has used our experience to create awareness on a national level.
“How she has handled being thrust into the limelight shows her great character and how she handles conflict with a level head. She is a leader on and off the field. ...”
Additionally, Ms. Anderson has been nominated by US Lacrosse Magazine as 2022 Best Advocate for descriptions of the incident.
Following the stop and as attention grew, Mr. Holmes said at the time team members on CNN, CBS, ESPN, ABC and MSNBC, in addition to contact with Delaware media outlets. They were also interviewed by reporters at The Washington Post, New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, he said.
