Police officers, some in riot gear, are guarding a group of men police say are among 31 arrested for rioting and linked to the Patriotic Front after being found in the back of a U-Haul van. near the Pride event in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Saturday. Six of the men were from Utah. (North Country Off Grid, Youtube via Reuters)
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COUR D’ALEN, Idaho – Six Utah men were among a large group believed to be white supremacists arrested on Saturday and accused of plotting to stage an LGBTQ rally in Idaho.
Police have received information in the past two days that people are planning to disrupt the Pride events at Coeur D’Alene, which has led to a large attendance at the events, Coeur D’Alene Police Chief Lee White said during a press conference broadcast by the channel. KHQ-Q6 per week.
At 1:38 p.m. on Sunday, a concerned citizen reported that about 20 people had jumped into the U-Haul wearing masks. They had shields and they said, “They looked like a small army,” Lee said
Police stopped traffic about 10 minutes later and detained 31 people in the van. They wore shields, shin guards and other anti-riot equipment, including “at least one smoke grenade”, according to the police chief.
Arrested men from Utah include Jared Michael Boyce, 27, of Springville; Brandon Mitchell Haney, 35, of Caisville; Cameron Catan Pruitt, 23, of Midway; Alexander Nikolai Siezenstein, 27, of Midvale; Dakota Ray Tabler, 29, of West Valley City; and Nathaniel Taylor Whitfield, 24, of Elk Ridge, according to a reservation report at the Idaho Jail.
Lee said these people had been arrested to investigate a riot plot. Although the riot plot is a criminal charge, Lee told reporters that he would rather arrest the group to prevent the riot than allow them to start the riot.
“At the time, they seemed to be linked to the Patriotic Front,” he said. All members of the group were dressed in the same outfit, with insignia and logos and a patch that read Patriot Front.
The group includes people from many states, including Texas, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Arkansas, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Virginia, Lee said.
Officers were expected to continue reserving evidence for the next few days.
“I don’t think it would have been so successful if we didn’t have an extremely astute citizen who saw something that excites them a lot and told us. Based on our equipment, it is clear that people had all of them, the things they owned at U-Haul, along with the documents that were confiscated from them, that they had come to revolt at the center, “Lee said.
He said the documents “look similar” to an operation plan to be used by the military.
Asked if people had firearms, Lee said he did not have that information. He said he had not personally seen any firearms.
Lee did not know where U-Haul had been hired, but he was loaded into the parking lot of a local hotel.
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Ashley Imley covers government policy and breaking news for KSL.com. Throughout Utah, Ashley also worked as a reporter for Deseret News and graduated from Dixie State University.
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