Sports
Police say the use of racial slurs is clearly heard during the investigation into racist incidents against the Utah team
After Utah’s loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the tournament on March 25, Utes coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of hate crimes after arriving at a hotel in Coeur d’Alene.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) – Police are investigating racist incidents against the Utah women’s basketball team When they were near an Idaho hotel last month while on the town for the NCAA Tournament, they said they found an audio recording wherein racial slurs were clearly heard.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Coeur d’Alene police said they were working to find out the “context and conduct” surrounding the use of the slur to find out whether a violation occurred. Police said they were still analyzing evidence from the events of March 21, but it surely appears that racial slurs were uttered greater than once.
Police said they collected roughly 35 hours of video footage from local businesses and these video and audio recordings corroborate what members of the basketball program reported. Police said detectives are working to locate additional evidence and procure details about the suspects. Detectives are also attempting to discover a silver automobile that was in the area at the time.
Next Utah lost to Gonzaga During the second round of the tournament on March 25, Utes coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of hate crimes after arriving at a hotel in Coeur d’Alene. Utah and other teams played their games in Spokane, Washington, but… The Utes were about 55 miles away in Coeur d’Alene.
Roberts said the March 21 incidents so shocked the players and coaches and anxious their safety that they moved to a different hotel the next day.
Tony Stewart, an official with the Kootenai County Human Relations Task Force, said the Utes were walking from their hotel to a restaurant when a pickup truck with a Confederate flag pulled up and the driver began using racist language. After the team left the restaurant, the same driver returned “empowered by the others,” Stewart said, they usually revved their engines and yelled at the players again.
Utah said it filed a police report the night of the events. Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said last week that about 100 people were in the area that night. He said if arrested, two state charges may very well be filed – malicious harassment and disorderly conduct. White also said he was cooperating with the FBI.
Far-right extremists are still present in the region for years. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, no less than nine hate groups operated in the Spokane region and northern Idaho in 2018.
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