No charges for slur directed at NCAA team

A northern Idaho prosecutor won't bring hate-crime charges against an 18-year-old accused of shouting a racist slur at members of the Utah women's basketball team during the NCAA Tournament.

Ryan Hunter, the deputy attorney for the city of Coeur d'Alene, made the announcement on Monday, writing in a charging decision document that though the use of the slur was “detestable” and “incredibly offensive,” there wasn't evidence suggesting that the man was threatening physical harm to the women or to their property.

Team members were staying at a Coeur d'Alene hotel in March as they competed in the NCAA Tournament in nearby Spokane, Wash. 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.

After the team left the restaurant, the same driver returned and was “reinforced by others,” revving their engines and yelling

The abjectly disgusting thought process required to believe it would be humorous to say something that abhorrent.

again at the players, said Tony Stewart, an official with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

Prosecutors considered whether to bring three possible charges against the man — malicious harassment, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace — but decided they didn't have enough evidence to support any of the three charges.

That's because Idaho's hatecrime 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.

“Setting aside the rank absurdity of that claim and the abjectly disgusting thought process required to believe it would be humorous to say something that abhorrent,” it undermines the premise that the man had the specific intent to intimidate and harass, Hunter wrote.