Man accused of hate crime

COEUR d’ALENE — A man is in jail after allegedly calling another man racial slurs and then challenging him to a fight.

Brent E. Bosserman, 51, of Coeur d’Alene is charged with malicious harassment, a felony.

Malicious harassment is Idaho’s hate crime statute. The law applies to harassment, intimidation or other threats based on a person’s “race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin.”

Police responded to a report of a dispute at a Coeur d’Alene apartment complex on Sept. 30.

Bosserman told police he had an issue with noise coming from a neighboring apartment. He reportedly saw a man smoking in the parking lot who he recognized as frequenting the apartment and approached him.

Bosserman said he felt the other man, who is Black, should leave the apartment complex because he wasn’t a tenant and reportedly told him to “go loiter in someone else’s neighborhood.”

The other man told police that Bosserman told him to “stop loitering around” and called him racial slurs.

The man reportedly left the scene and returned to the apartment.

When the man and his girlfriend went outside to get items from their vehicle, they encountered Bosserman again, according to court documents. Bosserman allegedly “came barreling toward them with some kind of bike seat in his hand.”

The man said Bosserman challenged him to a fight and that his girlfriend stepped between them.

Bosserman told police that the man and his girlfriend had “confronted” him and that the two men were between 3 and 6 feet apart during the interaction. He said the argument did not get physical, according to court documents.

Police arrested Bosserman at the scene.

Bosserman has lived in the area for six years, according to court records.

A judge ordered that Bosserman be held on $10,000 bail.

Malicious harassment is punishable by up to five years in prison, up to a $5,000 fine or both.