Police ID Person Who Might Have Harassed Students At Game

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — The Rapid City Police Department has identified at least one person who is accused of harassing grade-school students from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at a minor league hockey game.

Authorities are considering filing charges in the alleged incident during a Rapid City Rush game last Saturday, according to Police Chief Karl Jegeris.

"We're going to be looking at assault. We're going to look at the hate crimes statutes. We will look at the child abuse statutes. And, we will look at any other relevant statutes," Jegeris said. He did not reveal the name of the person identified.

Chaperones for the students from the American Horse K-8 school in Allen said students were subjected to racial slurs and sprayed with beer. Fifty-seven students and eight chaperones attended the game. Some parents complained to Rapid City police, and the department opened an investigation Tuesday.

"They (students) were targets of a hate crime, because of their skin color, because they were from the rez," mother Angie Sam said.

Parents of four of the students have hired Rapid City attorney Mato Standing High to represent them.

"In the families' view, there is nothing short of an arrest that needs to be made," he said. "That is the definition of justice in this instance."

Eagle Sales of the Black Hills, a beer distributorship, rents a skybox from which the alleged harassment came. President Tom Helland has said guests in the company's suite exhibited poor behavior, and he has apologized to the students.

Tribal Councilmen Ron Duke and Rich Greenwald, who represents the reservation district that includes Allen, attended a Wednesday evening press conference with Jegeris that followed a 2 1/2-hour closed-door meeting that included parents, school officials, Oglala Sioux representatives, Mayor Sam Kooiker, police and officials with the Pennington County State's Attorney's Office.

"All we're asking for is that justice be served," Duke said.

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