No hate crime charges against man who yelled racist slurs at Utah women's basketball team

by REBECCA BOONE | Associated PressFILE - Players and staff on the Utah bench react toward the end of a second-round college basketball game against Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., Monday, March 25, 2024. A northern Idaho prosecutor won't bring hate crime charges against an 18-year-old accused of shouting a racial slur at members of the Utah women's basketball team while the team was in Idaho to attend the NCAA Tournament.

The members of the University of Utah basketball team were staying at a Coeur d’Alene hotel in March as they competed at the NCAA Tournament in nearby Spokane, Washington. Team members were walking from a hotel to a restaurant when they said a truck drove up and the driver yelled a racist slur at the group.

“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program and incredibly upsetting for all of us,” Roberts said. “In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it’s shocking. There’s so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to that very often.”In the document detailing the decision, Hunter said police interviewed nearly two dozen witnesses and pored over hours of surveillance video.

That’s because Idaho’s hate crime law only makes racial harassment a crime if it is done with the intent to either threaten or cause physical harm to a person or to their property. The man who shouted the slur told police he did it because he thought it would be funny, Hunter wrote.

Racist Slur Idaho First Amendment NCAA Tournament Utah Women's Basketball Team Prosecutor Decision Freedom Of Speech

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