Delaware State University formally filed its request for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a search of its women's lacrosse team’s bus, asking the feds to look at possible civil rights violations during last month’s incident.
DSU’s complaint to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights claims the actions of Liberty County Police in Georgia were illegal and a violation of Title VI.
The university’s women’s lacrosse team was traveling back to Delaware from a tournament in Florida on April 20th, when its charter bus was pulled over by a marked cruiser.
Police told the driver he was stopped for improperly driving in the left lane, which the letter says is incorrect according to Georgia law. Several more police vehicles arrived with a narcotics dog to search the cargo hold. DSU’s letter says the dog seemed to react playfully rather than alert, but officers proceeded to go through the luggage.
ACLU of Delaware attorney Dwyane Bensingsaid applauds the students for keeping their composure, but says many people are often tricked into consenting to searches that would otherwise require a warrant.
“Oftentimes people think they’re trying to be cooperative and so they’ll answer questions or they’ll permit an officer to inspect their vehicle because they’re thinking ‘I’m not doing anything wrong,'" Bensing said. "But what they’ve done is they’ve consented to the search. And then that has been upheld that search is now legal because that person has consented to the search of the vehicle.”
Bensing adds these kinds of traffic stops are all too common.
“What should outrage people is that there are all of these laws that invite police to stop and seize individuals who are just going on their merry way," Bensing said. "This was a bus of students who were just trying to compete in a lacrosse tournament.”
Bensing says the matter is now in the Civil Rights Division’s hands to decide if it warrants further investigation.
