No charges for teens accused of putting racial slur on Rochester bridge

ROCHESTER — The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office will not file charges against the four teenagers accused of putting a racial slur on a bridge here near a high school earlier this year.

Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors likely could not meet the necessary burden of proof to file criminal or delinquency charges against the teens.

“I am deeply disturbed that anyone in this community could be so oblivious to find humor or enjoyment in this type of conduct,” Ostrem said. “We are better than that. But, we evaluate incidents based on the law, not our internal responses to the event.”

The NAACP of Rochester condemned the decision not to charge the teens, calling their actions a form of racial terrorism and saying in a statement that Ostrem’s office “sends a dangerous message to our community and students.”

“Community healing requires accountability, and these individuals were not held accountable today,” NAACP officials said.

The Rochester Police Department earlier this week announced it had identified four boys — three 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old — as suspects behind the slur found in April on an E. Circle Drive pedestrian bridge near Century High School.

The slur, commonly used against Black people, was spelled out using plastic cups to plug holes in a fence on the bridge.

The incident prompted numerous community forums where Black residents decried Rochester’s seemingly increasing racial tension in recent years. The Circle Drive bridge wasn’t the only place where graffiti was found; similar slurs have been found on hiking trails and sidewalks in the past few years.

The county attorney’s office outlined four possible charges against the teens but dismissed them all, arguing the boys didn’t deface the bridge as cups are routinely used to spell out messages to nearby motorists. The slur didn’t constitute a specific threat of violence against someone. The teens didn’t post the slur multiple times, ruling out harassment charges.

Prosecutors could have charged the teens with disorderly conduct, but Olmsted County argued the slur doesn’t meet the necessary threshold to be considered fighting words. It would likely be considered protected speech, however hateful it may be.

Yet the NAACP views the incident as victimizing Rochester’s Black and immigrant communities. NAACP officials argued Thursday the teen suspects “intimidated, demonized, and inflicted pain upon the Black and brown community of Rochester.”

“Their actions also targeted the fabric of the community we are all working hard to build — a thriving Rochester where everyone, including Black and underrepresented people, can live, work, and enjoy equitable opportunities,” NAACP officials said.

NAACP Rochester President Wale Elegbede said earlier this week that the organization plans to build on its community forums with more citywide initiatives to help the area heal from the incident.