Idaho Man Seen In Viral Video Yelling Racial Slurs At Teenagers On Church Youth Outing Charged With Hate Crime

Richard Sovenski, 52, of Hayden, Idaho, has been arrested and charged for a hate crime caught on video at a McDonald’s in Coeur d’Alene on July 12. In the video, Sovenski is hurling racial slurs a group of teenagers from Spokane that were on an outing associated with Immanuel Church. The group stopped for ice cream after traveling to see a guest preacher in the area. Police Captain David Hagar officially charged Sovenski with one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of felony malicious harassment under Idaho’s hate crime statute five days after the incident took place.

The group leader, Jose Ceniceros, who spoke with Inlander Newspaper, reported that as the group was leaving, Sovenski began swearing and using racial slurs toward the group. As they got closer to the exit door, Ceniceros says that he was sucker punched by Sovenski. At that point, he began recording the incident on his phone. Although there is no video of Ceniceros being hit by Sovenski, it has been confirmed to the police by parties not related to Ceniceros as accurate.

Please be advised that this video contains the use of profanity and hate speech.

After the Immanuel Church youth party had exited the McDonald’s and were in the parking lot, Sovenski followed the group out and continued to hurl racial and homophobic slurs at the group in an expletive-laced tirade appearing on Raw Story.

“Why don’t you get a f—kin’ job. I will f—k you up in a f—kin’ heartbeat you f—kin’ little fa–ot. Oh you f—k you, you f—kin’ half breed. Get the f—k out of Idaho. F—k you, you f—kin’ half breeds.”

During the portion of the altercation caught on video, an as yet unnamed man wearing American flag shorts, flip-flops, a “Hurley” t-shirt, and partially sleeved with tattoos can be seen trying to stop the filming, and at times trying to keep the two parties apart. Later in the segment, he can be seen grabbing and shaking his crotch toward the youth group. An as yet unnamed woman that was with Sovenski, per The Inlander, was reported as saying that the kids were “being rude, dancing and running around causing a disturbance.” To this point, no other news source has produced independent corroboration of this allegation.

The Coeur d’ Alene Post Falls Press reports police have confirmed Cenicero’s allegations with several parties, including Chris Morse, who witnessed the altercation from the drive-thru lane. Capt. Hagar reported that the reason for the delay in arresting Sovenski was to provide his deputies with time to conduct a thorough investigation. Sovenski was charged at Coeur d’Alene’s First District Magistrate Court and is scheduled to appear on July 27 and July 31 for the malicious harassment charge.