COUR D'ALENE, Idaho — An 18-year-old Idaho man who officials say admitted to shouting a racist slur at members of the University of Utah women’s basketball team will not be charged with a crime.
After two months of investigating the incident that took place during the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, city attorneys in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, decided last week not to prosecute the man based on a lack of probable cause and the potential violation of his constitutional right to free speech.
The man, a student at a Coeur d’Alene high school, admitted to shouting the N-word and a sexually explicit comment from a car as the Utes players walked nearby, according to a charging decision document obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
The incident, which took place on March 21 as Utah was preparing for a tournament game against Gonzaga, was captured on surveillance video.
On May 3, Coeur d’Alene Chief Deputy City Attorney Ryan Hunter wrote that the city attorney’s office considered charging the man with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and malicious harassment. But the document stated there was “insufficient evidence” that the man “acted with a specific intent to intimidate or harass any specific person.”
Hunter concluded that the man’s conduct didn’t rise to the level of pursuing prosecution for the other two charges. He also wrote that the man’s comment and use of the N-word could not “meet the legal requirements for any of the narrow categories of unprotected speech.”
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