COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The Coeur d'Alene Prosecutor's Office will not charge the man who allegedly yelled racial slurs at the Utah women's basketball team in March due to "insufficient evidence."
According to a report from Ryan Hunter, the Chief Deputy City Attorney, there is not enough evidence to establish probable cause "as to every element of any of the potential offenses without reliance on First Amendment protected speech." Essentially, the report said there is not enough evidence to prove every aspect of the suspect's alleged offenses, and the prosecutor's office can't use speech protected by the First Amendment to criminally charge someone.
In late March, the Utah Women's Basketball team and the University of California Irvine Women's Basketball team stayed at the Coeur d'Alene Resort for the NCAA Tournament games in Spokane, Washington. On Thursday, March 21, the two women's basketball teams were walking to dinner in downtown Coeur d'Alene when a truck with a confederate flag stopped and began yelling racial slurs, including the N-word.
After dinner, the teams were walking back when the same driver came back with reinforcements and continued harassing the players. The driver was reportedly revving his engine while yelling racial slurs at the players, which Stewart said appeared to be a threat to the players.
After the incident, the Coeur d'Alene Police Department (CDAPD) quickly identified one of the suspects as 18-year-old Anthony Myers, a student at Post Falls High School. Myers reportedly admitted to shouting racial slurs and other profane statements at the team during his interview with police, but later tried to amend his statement to say he only shouted a racial slur. Police said there is little evidence to support his amended statement, but there is substantial evidence to support what he said in his first admission.
Despite the "substantial evidence," Myers will not be charged with anything.
"In short, I cannot find probable cause that Anthony Myers’s conduct—shouting out of a moving vehicle at a group of people—constituted either Disturbing the Peace under state law or Disorderly Conduct under the CDA Municipal Code," Hunter wrote in the report. "Instead, what has been clear from the very outset of this incident is that it was not when or where or how Mr. Myers made the grotesque racial statement that caused the justifiable outrage in this case; it was the grotesque racial statement itself.
"Our office shares in the outrage sparked by Anthony Myers’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," the report continued. "However, that cannot, under current law, form the basis for criminal prosecution in this case."
CDAPD said it will not comment further on the decision because the "analysis speaks for itself."
The Kootenai County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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