Man who shouted racial slur at Utah women’s basketball team won’t be charged –

Criminal charges will not be filed against an 18-year-old man who officials say has admitted to yelling a racial slur directed toward members of the Utah women’s basketball team ahead of the team’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament in March.

In a six-page charging decision document dated May 3 and released Monday, Coeur d’Alene Chief Deputy City Attorney Ryan Hunter said that the suspect, a high school student in Idaho, confessed to shouting a racial slur and an obscene sexual statement toward to the group that included Utah players, staff members and other students.

The document, obtained by the Deseret News, explained that city attorneys in Couer d’Alene chose not to prosecute the man due to “insufficient evidence to establish probable cause” as well as a potential violation of the man’s First Amendment right to protected free speech.

University of Utah officials declined to comment further on the matter.

What did the police investigation into the incident determine?

The Utah women’s basketball team was staying in Couer d’Alene, Idaho, prior to its scheduled first-round game against South Dakota State in the women’s NCAA Tournament, as the Deseret News previously reported. The Utes played two NCAA Tournament games at the University of Gonzaga campus in Spokane, Washington, about a 35-minute drive from the Idaho town.

Two incidents occurred on March 21 not long after the team arrived in town, the university explained.

According to the charging decision document, a police report filed that night by university booster Robert Moyer claimed two lifted pickup trucks revved their engines and sped by while shouting a racial slur at the university’s group as it walked toward Crafted Tap House + Kitchen for a dinner reservation, then harassed the group again as it left the restaurant and returned to the Couer d’Alene Resort, where the team was staying.

A three-week investigation by Couer d’Alene police established a timeline of events that night and video evidence confirmed that an individual in a sedan shouted a racial slur, Hunter wrote.

The police, through their investigation, determined the identities of the four occupants in the vehicle and the 18-year-old in question confessed to saying both the racial slur and obscene statement, according to the charging decision document.

The Couer d’Alene city attorney’s office considered three potential criminal offenses against the man, including disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and malicious harassment, according to the document.

Hunter wrote there was “insufficient evidence” to establish malicious harassment — or “with a specific intent to intimidate or harass any specific person” — in the man’s conduct. As for the other two charges, he also concluded the 18-year-old’s actions didn’t rise to the level of pursuing prosecution under state or city criminal code.

“What has been clear from the very outset of this incident is that it was not when or where…