During the NCAA tournament, members and staff of the Utah women's basketball team watched. young Kwak/AP CNN& mdash； Before the NCAA championship, the Utah women's basketball team was racially slandered in Idaho. After investigation, the prosecutor's office of Coeur d'Alene decided not to press charges. Ryan Hunter, the chief deputy prosecutor, said in a written decision dated May 3 that criminal prosecution would not be conducted because "there is not enough evidence to establish the possible causes of every element of any potential crime without relying on the statements protected by the First Amendment".
According to the complaint comments written by Hunter, the Cordalen Police Department was able to interview nearly 24 witnesses and compiled several hours of surveillance videos. The police identified four people in a car, and the authorities said one of them made offensive remarks.
In the comments, Hunter wrote that an 18-year-old male high school student initially admitted to using the N word on the team, but later tried to retract some of his police confessions. Hunter wrote in his decision that although he condemned the use of the teenager's comments, the chief deputy city prosecutor could not find a possible reason to prove that such behavior-shouting at a group of people in a moving vehicle-was either disturbing the peace stipulated by state laws or disturbing the peace stipulated by Coeur d'Alene municipal regulations.
The reaction of archivists and staff on Utah bench after the second round of college basketball match in the NCAA championship in Spokane, Washington. Monday, March 25th, 2024. When the Utah women's basketball team participated in the NCAA championship in the city last month, racist incidents occurred near the Idaho hotel, and the police investigated these incidents. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, April 3rd, the police said that they had found a recording which used obvious racial slander. The police said that before the NCAA championship, the racial slander of the young Guo/Associated Press article "clearly audible" was directed at the Utah women's basketball team. Hunter wrote in the accusation decision that the prosecutor's office was also angry at the teenager's "disgusting racist and misogynistic remarks", and we unequivocally condemned such remarks and the use of racial slander in this case or under any circumstances. However, according to the current law, this cannot form the basis of criminal prosecution in this case. "
In March this year, when the incident happened, the Utah Jazz was staying in a hotel in Cordalen before the opening of the NCAA Tour. Team officials said at the time that the incident made the players "deeply uneasy and shocked."
Utah lives in Cordalen because the hotel space in Spokane, Washington is limited, which is the venue of Utah's competition. When there were vacancies, the team was finally moved to a hotel in Spokane.
The police have confirmed a recording in which clearly audible racial slander was used, and said that they are investigating the background and behavior related to the use of the recording to determine whether it is illegal.
According to a statement by Utah officials at the time, the team was on its way to dinner when a car passed by and "shouted racial discrimination at the team."
Later, when the team returned from dinner, a car slowly passed by the team, "accelerating the engine", and the passengers shouted "racially biased words and threats" again, the statement said.
According to Hunter's written report, there is no audio evidence to catch any vehicles "accelerating" their engines, and there is no audio evidence to show that the team used racial insults when they walked to dinner, although the police said that five reliable witnesses confirmed the insults.
When the team left dinner and was walking back to Coeur d'Alene Resort, they could hear this slander in the surveillance video.