Coeur d’Alene’s police department is investigating reports of racial slurs and intimidating behavior directed toward the University of Utah women’s basketball team during a recent stay in the city.
An account compiled by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations said players, cheerleaders, and band members were walking to dinner on Sherman Avenue last Thursday night when a truck bearing a Confederate flag pulled up nearby. The driver revved the engine and people in the vehicle yelled the N-word and other epithets before driving away. A nearly-identical encounter allegedly took place when the students left the restaurant to return to their hotel.
Students and staff were shaken by the encounters. The NCAA and Gonzaga University, the host campus for this year’s regional tournaments, worked to move the Utah students to a different hotel. The team also filed a police report.
Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said the investigation is focused on Idaho malicious harassment and disorderly conduct laws. He noted the incidents may also fall under federal statutes, but the exact scope was unknown.
“Until we get all the facts and the investigation is complete, what charge might actually be brought against the perpetrators is yet to be determined,” White said.
Detectives are attempting to speak to students or staff who experienced the incidents, White said, and he appealed for witnesses to contact the police department. He added that the department is seeking video footage of the encounters for further study.
The reported events became public Monday night, when Coach Roberts discussed the situation in a post-game press conference. She described the vitriol as “upsetting and unfortunate.”
"For our players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever, no one knew how to handle it,” Roberts said. “And for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA Tournament environment…is messed up."
Coeur d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond condemned the actions at a press conference Tuesday morning. He also apologized to the students and said the city stood with them.
“We believe that all should be treated with kindness, dignity and respect – all,” Hammond said.
Hammond said Idaho Gov. Brad Little expressed his concern about the reports in a Tuesday morning telephone call. In a subsequent written statement, Little condemned the incidents.
“Idaho leaders and community members at all levels have been consistent and clear about our values – we fully reject racism in all its forms,” Little wrote. “There is no place for racism, hate or bigotry in the great State of Idaho.”
In a separate statement, Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke voiced similar feelings.
Tony Stewart, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, but using that speech to harass or intimidate someone else is not.
“Free expression under the U.S. Constitution protects an individual displaying a Confederate flag off his or her vehicle…[but] it does not permit the perpetrators to engage in verbal threats toward any person or group,” Stewart said.
Stewart, who has been active in local anti-extremism efforts for years, connected last Thursday’s incidents to a larger trend of rising intolerance across the country.
“We must speak out against this destructive trend,” he said.
