Police testify in Patriot Front trial

COEUR d’ALENE — The lead detective who investigated the 31 members of Patriot Front found crammed into a U-Haul truck on their way to a 2022 Pride celebration in Coeur d’Alene testified he doesn’t think the group planned to commit violence.

“Based on my observation of items recovered from these members and based on reading the plan that was forthcoming, I believe their intentions were peaceful,” Detective Jesse Welch of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said in court Wednesday. “However, they were prepared for a riot.”

Wednesday was the second day of the trial of Devin W. Center, James J. Johnson, Forrest C. Rankin, Derek J. Smith and Robert B. Whitted, who are accused of planning to incite a riot last year during Pride in the Park. The Patriot Front members have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to riot by disturbing the public peace, a misdemeanor.

When he took the stand, Welch offered a caveat to his opinion.

“I was not on scene when these people were placed under arrest,” he said. “I did not observe what was said when they were detained.”

Much of the testimony heard Wednesday was from local police officers who responded to the initial traffic stop near City Park. They described their observations, as well as their concerns about what the 31 men had planned to do.

Lt. Johann Schmitz of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department made the call to arrest the 31 Patriot Front members after police detained them.

In court Wednesday, Schmitz said he based the decision on the totality of the circumstances, including the rising tensions and threats of violence leading up to June 11, 2022. He also considered the group’s unusual mode of transport, as well as their uniform-like clothing and the equipment they brought with them.

“They were more than likely headed downtown to threaten violence or disturb the public peace without authority of law,” Schmitz said. “You have to look at the big picture and use your common sense.”

Capt. Dave Hagar described a tense atmosphere downtown on the day of the mass arrest. Law enforcement had previously identified “veiled threats” targeting Pride in the Park organizers and attendees, he said, as well as anonymous threats to run people over with vehicles.

Other intelligence indicated that groups were coming from outside the area, both to support the Pride event and to protest it. None of that intelligence led police to believe Patriot Front would be present, however.

An operations plan created by the Coeur d’Alene Police Department emphasized police must strike a balance between protecting free speech and free expression and protecting the rights and safety of others.

“We’re not going to take any action based on the content of speech,” Hagar said, adding that overtly threatening speech might be handled differently. “If a criminal act has been committed or there’s work toward a criminal act, we’re going to address that. People can hold up whatever signs they want.”

On the big day, downtown Coeur d’Alene was crowded. Some individuals were visibly armed, which Hagar said wasn’t out of the ordinary or a concern by itself.

“It’s North Idaho,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve been to any event downtown where we haven’t had people open carrying.”

Hagar was present for the traffic stop. He said the defendants’ clothing, which included shin guards and hats reinforced with hard plastic inserts, indicated to him they anticipated an altercation.

“Football players put on pads because they know they’re going to get hit,” he said. “Cheerleaders don’t put on pads because they know they’re not going to get hit.”

Prosecutors displayed one of the 15 metal shields that police collected from the truck. It was red, white and blue, decorated with a chevron.

Hagar said shields used by police are lightweight, curved all around to prevent injury and designed to block objects rather than to bash others.

“We don’t want to inadvertently injure someone with the tools that we have,” he said.

The shields carried by Patriot Front members are heavy, with edges and points. Seeing the points on the shields took Hagar back to 1997, when he was a member of the Mesa Police Department and undergoing training in “field force” or riot control.

On the first day of training, Hagar said, a shield bearer tripped and fell onto him. Though the shield was designed not to cause injury, it cut Hagar’s face, causing a 3-inch laceration.

“If I were hit by one of these, it would cause some serious injury,” Hagar said of the Patriot Front shields.

The metal shields found in the back of the U-Haul were scuffed and dented in a way that suggested they had been used as tools or for “downward slashing,” Hagar said.

“This isn’t a pristine shield that’s never been used,” he said. “This is something they’ve either practiced with or used in real time.”

Prosecutors also showed the court one of the six flag poles found in the back of the U-Haul. The poles are 10 feet long, about 2 feet longer than a standard flagpole used for ceremonies, with Patriot Front flags attached. Hagar said such poles could be used from behind a shield line to stab at approaching parties.

At that, the defendants laughed from their seats behind defense counsel.

Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday. The trial will continue 9 a.m. Thursday.