Delaware AG Wants Civil Rights Probe After Cops Search HBCU Team Bus

DOVER, DE — Delaware's attorney general is calling for a federal civil rights investigation after a bus carrying the Delaware State University women's lacrosse team was stopped and searched by Georgia deputies while traveling from a game in Florida.

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings sent a letter to Georgia officials and the U.S. Department of Justice this week, saying she was "deeply troubled" after learning Liberty County sheriff's deputies pulled over the team bus on a southern Georgia highway and searched it with a drug-sniffing dog.

Delaware State is a historically black college located in Dover, Delaware.

In the letter obtained by National Public Radio, Jennings asked officials to figure out whether the team was subjected to racial profiling.

"These students and coaches were not in the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time," Jennings said in the letter. "Not only did the deputies find nothing illegal in the bags; they did not issue a single ticket for the alleged traffic infraction."

The furor started with the April 20 traffic stop of the charter bus on Interstate 95. The bus was pulled over by Liberty County deputies, all of whom were white.

RELATED: Racial Profiling Denied By GA Sheriff In Drug Search Of HBCU Team Bus

According to Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman, the bus initially was pulled over for traveling in the wrong lane for a commercial vehicle. But when a drug-sniffing dog responded positively outside the bus, Bowman said Liberty County deputies decided they would search the bus's luggage compartment.

Bowman, who is Black, told reporters Tuesday that deputies couldn't tell who was in the bus because of the height of its windows and the fact they were tinted.

When the deputies entered the bus to explain their search, at least one student took pictures and recorded the explanation. That video was later posted to YouTube and titled "Racism in the South."

The deputies and their dogs spent 20 to 30 minutes searching through the contents of the bus's luggage compartment. They didn't find anything illegal or suspicious. Meanwhile, the bus driver was issued a warning for driving in the wrong lane.

The traffic gained national attention after a May 4 article was published in the Delaware State University student newspaper, The Hornet. It also prompted university president Tony Allen to issue a statement.

"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," Allen wrote. "Perhaps more significantly, we have the courage of our convictions."

Meanwhile, the Liberty County Sheriff's Department has launched a formal review of the incident.

"From what I gather, I believe that the stop was legal, but I also understand my duty to help the public understand law enforcement while seeking ways to improve services," Bowman said in a statement Tuesday.