COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Just two days after a Coeur d’Alene deputy city attorney declined to pursue charges against a man suspected of yelling a racial slur and sexual phrase at the University of Utah women’s basketball team, police have released video corroborating their account of what happened.
Security video from a business clearly corroborates that a man shouted, “I hate N-words, but I’d f- your butts,” out of a car as he drove by a group of women.
The video, which police received from Clark’s Jewelers, is timestamped as March 21 at 7:16 p.m.
That’s the same evening a University of Utah booster called police to alert them that the team was the subject of racist harassment. The jeweler is between the Coeur d’Alene Resort and Crafted Tap House along Sherman Avenue, where the players told police they had been walking.
The team was staying in Coeur d’Alene while they played in the first rounds of the NCAA tournament, hosted by Gonzaga University.
Police also released a 54-page report detailing the investigation that tracked down 18-year-old Post Falls High School student Anthony Myers as man behind the statement.
According to that report, Myers spoke with police multiple times in early April. On multiple occasions, Myers admitted to saying the N-word but argued another friend in the car was actually behind the phrase caught on video.
Detective Khalil Newbill wasn’t convinced by Myers’ claims that a friend was behind the remarks.
“I told Anthony that it was difficult to believe anything he said because he has lied to me 3 times at this point,” Newbill wrote in the report.
Newbill’s investigation included interviews with other teenagers, some of whom were allegedly involved and some who know Myers.
A friend told police Myers frequently uses the N-word often.
“He said Anthony says the ‘N-Word’ a lot but not in a racist manner,” Newbill wrote.
Newbill concluded there were no threats made and no actions to harm anyone, and he consequently didn’t cite or arrest Myers for any crime.
The city attorney’s office agreed.
This is a developing story and will be updated
