Racial slur against U of U Women’s Basketball Team ‘clearly audible’ in surveillance footage, say investigators
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A surveillance recording clearly captured audio of a racial slur being used when the Utah Women’s Basketball Team was walking nearby in northern Idaho last month, local investigators said, noting they are still working to determine if a crime was committed.
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department issued an update Wednesday into the investigation regarding the reported racist incidents on March 21, when the Utah team said that people revved their engines and yelled racial slurs at them, including the n-word, when they went out to dinner.
PREVIOUSLY: Witness describes racist harassment against Utah basketball team in body camera footage
Local police said they gathered 35 hours of video from businesses in the area around the Coeur d’Alene Resort, where the team was staying. They said that some of the footage “corroborates what was reported by members of the basketball program.”
This includes an audio segment where a racial slur was “clearly audible,” the update said. Investigators are working to determine if the use of the slur was against the law and if it was uttered more than once.
Police said they are also working to identify a silver passenger car that was in the area at the time of the incident. Anyone with information on the car (pictured below) is asked to call police at 208-769-2320.
Police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, say they are working to identify this passenger car in connection to the alleged racist incident on March 21, 2024, involving the Utah Women’s Basketball Team. Police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, say they are working to identify this passenger car in connection to the alleged racist incident on March 21, 2024, involving the Utah Women’s Basketball Team.
The Utah basketball team was staying in Coeur d’Alene last month to play NCAA tournament games hosted in Spokane, Washington, which is roughly 30 minutes away. After enduring the alleged racist harassment, the team left Coeur d’Alene the next day for lodgings elsewhere.
Days later, in a press conference following Utah’s loss to Gonzaga, Utah coach Lynne Roberts told the media that what her team experienced were “racial hate crimes.” She added that the experience marred what was supposed to have been a joyous time for her players.
According to city officials, the racist incident happened when the team was walking to dinner at a local restaurant. That’s when someone in a pickup bearing a Confederate flag reportedly shouted racial slurs at the team. Two hours later, when the team was leaving the restaurant, more vehicles were outside, shouting slurs and revving their engines.
The witness who reported the incidents to local police told them that the harassers “had to have been waiting” outside the restaurant, body camera footage showed. He added that the yelling was “aggressive,” like the perpetrators were “having fun [messing] with us.”
Coeur d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond and other city officials publicly apologized to the Utah team. Yet, during the press conference, a man local reporters described as “far right agitator” interrupted the speakers, bringing the event to an abrupt end.
In the wake of the alleged racist incident, some Idaho lawmakers and political influencers casted doubt on whether the incident happened, saying it could have been a hoax, the Idaho Statesman reported. Still, the Idaho senate passed a resolution last week denouncing racism.
The reported racist incidents in northern Idaho garnered national media attention and again brought a spotlight to the region’s history of being a hub for hate groups, including the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations.
In their recent investigation update, Coeur d’Alene Police said that they have interviewed all of the parties known to have been involved with the reported incident involving the Utah team. They added that detectives are still analyzing the surveillance footage and working to find any additional evidence.
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