Idaho man avoids punishment despite threatening young football players with ‘killing black people’

An Idaho college town is mired in a well-known controversy after a resident greeted a visiting junior soccer team from Canada with a series of racial slurs — the third such incident in 2024.

As within the previous case, local prosecutors concluded that the perpetrators had not broken the law and wouldn’t be punished.

According to a report from the Castlegar News, police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, were notified after witnesses reported that a man in a truck was yelling racial slurs on the team’s diverse roster during warmups before a tournament game on May 12.

Coeur d’Alene police reported a beige Dodge Ram truck revved its engine because it drove past a field, then slowed down. The passenger then allegedly yelled “kill black people” and used one other racial slur before leaving the world.

“He told me he was exercising his freedom of speech, he never threatened to hurt anyone or had any intention of attacking anyone, but he did admit to using the ‘N’ word with a hard R,” the officer wrote on the scene. based on Oak Bay NewsAs the anonymous man told police, this wasn’t the primary time he had done this.

Coeur d’Alene is home to 6 colleges, including North Idaho College, Boise State University and Idaho State University.

The same incident in March involving the University of Utah women’s basketball team on the town for an NCAA Tournament game prompted police to file a malicious harassment charge. The players, supported by statements from not less than five witnesses, said they were twice confronted by a vehicle driven by 4 men, not less than one in every of whom shouted “racist slurs and threats.”

Official team authorities he told CNN The incident left players “deeply concerned and shocked.”

However, despite the police department’s advice, an assistant city attorney found the teenager’s slur was “abhorrently racist” but didn’t meet state criteria for a disorderly conduct offense or a violation of the town’s disorderly conduct ordinance.

Prosecutors haven’t commented on their decision within the football team case. Students at Coeur d’Alene Tribal School also reported racial harassment in May, the Castlegar News reported, but details weren’t released.

The incidents have made it difficult for Coeur d’Alene and northern Idaho on the whole to shake its repute as a haven for white supremacists, which began when the Hitler-loving, racist Aryan Nations sect settled there within the early Nineteen Seventies.

Noticing this histracks and the incident involving the Utah team, Coeur d’Alene passed its first hate crimes law in July, adding a misdemeanor charge for hate speech. Punishment can include fines, jail time and community service.

However, a hate crime charge can only be applied if the person is found guilty of a related crime. Without a charge, the law doesn’t apply.

In a letter to Editor-in-Chief of The Coeur d’Alene Press, One former resident said there have been “serious, serious problems” with racism in the world.

“You have seen and felt the growing hatred and bigotry in the city and region over the past several years, yet these emotions and actions are distinctly un-American, ungodly, cruel, and deny the basic dignity and respect that all Americans are promised under the Constitution,” wrote Robert Marshall, who moved out in 2023.

Police responding to harassment of a youth soccer team also beneficial charges of malicious harassment be brought.

In a press release, the Nelson Soccer Association declined to comment on the prosecutor’s decision or whether its teams will proceed to compete in Idaho. The organization said it’s awaiting guidance on the matter from the game’s provincial governing body, BC Soccer, in addition to Canada Soccer. It can be reviewing its own policies on reporting incidents, in addition to training for employees and volunteers.