No charges after slur hurled at Utah women’s team

An 18-year-old man shouted a racial slur at members of the Utah women’s basketball team this spring but will not face criminal charges, a city prosecutor in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, wrote in a decision dated last Friday.

The city’s chief deputy city attorney, Ryan Hunter, wrote in the charging decision that he declined to prosecute the teen because his statement did not meet the legal definition of malicious harassment or hate speech and is therefore protected under the First Amendment.

A police investigation determined the teen shouted the N-word at Utah players, some of whom were Black, as they walked to dinner the night before their first NCAA Tournament game.

“Our office shares in the outrage sparked by (the man’s) abhorrently racist and misogynistic statement, and we join in unequivocally condemning that statement and the use of a racial slur in this case, or in any circumstance,” Hunter wrote. “However, that cannot, under current law, form the basis for criminal prosecution in this case.”

A spokesperson for Utah athletics said the department had no comment on the decision. The Utes had been staying in Coeur d’Alene ahead of tournament games in Spokane, Washington, but switched hotels after the incident.