UPDATED with release of officer's body cam footage.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman held a press conference in front of the Liberty County Justice Center Tuesday to respond to allegations that his deputies racially profiled a bus full of Delaware State University lacrosse players on April 20, during a traffic stop that started off as routine.

The story has gained national attention as the president of the Historically Black College said the bus was searched after the traffic stop, traumatizing the bus load of predominantly black student athletes and coaching staff.
A video shot by a student shows two white Liberty County deputies inside the bus telling the students they needed to come clean if they had any drugs in their bags. According to initial reports, a deputy had a K-9 officer walk around the bus during the stop and the dog alerted for drugs.

The deputies started searching the women’s bags prior to their explanation as to why they were ruffling through the students’ personal items located in the outside storage areas of the bus.

According to the report, no illegal drugs were found and no arrests were made. The bus driver received a warning for driving in the wrong lane.

According to an article in USA Today, Delaware State president Tony Allen informed his student body about the incident on Monday after reading the accounts of the stop in the campus’s newspaper.
In a letter, Allen said the university has informed Delaware Gov. John Carney, the state Attorney General’s office, Delaware’s congressional delegation and the Congressional Black Caucus about the incident.
"They, like me, are incensed," Allen wrote. "We have also reached out to Georgia Law Enforcement and are exploring options for recourse – legal and otherwise – available to our student-athletes, our coaches, and the university."
Team coach Pamela Jenkins was quoted as saying everyone was infuriated by the deputies’ immediate, “assumption of guilt.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, Bowman, who is an African American, said he has received several calls regarding the stop.
“After a primary review and discussions with the deputies I will address the question and the public’s concern about the women that were the passengers of the motorcoach,” Bowman said.

He said the bus was stopped because it was not traveling in the two far right lanes as the law requires. He said deputies had made other stops and in one traffic stop, contraband was located.
“Due to the nature of the detail a K-9 was part of the stop and a alert was given by the K-9,” Bowman said. “Before entering the motorcoach, the deputies were not aware that this school represented a Historically Black College and they were also not aware of the race of the occupants due to the height of the vehicle and the tinted windows.”
Bowman said once they got the alert, they followed the same protocol as in any other similar situation and were right to do so under the current law, regardless of the passengers’ race, age or destination of the passengers.
“No personal items on the bus or person on the bus were searched,” Bowman said. All items that were searched were from the outside storage bins of the bus.

He said his department employs officers who believe in diversity and community policing.
“At the time, and even for weeks following, we were not aware that this stop was perceived as a racial profile,” Bowman said. “Although I do not believe any racial profiling took place, based on information I currently have, I welcome feedback from our community on ways that our law enforcement practices can be improved while still maintaining the law.”
Bowman said he specifically wants feedback for the Delaware State University lacrosse team. He added he doesn’t allow racial profiling to occur under his leadership. He said he believes the stop was legal and added his department will conduct a formal review of the stop to make sure all the procedures were properly followed.
He said there would be no more comments until the review is complete.

A local news woman attempted to ask Bowman about other reports which indicated an internal investigation was already completed. Bowman did not respond and walked back into the Justice Center.