Coeur d’Alene man arrested over racial slurs, threats, police say

A Coeur d’Alene man who allegedly yelled racial slurs at a black man was arrested and charged with a felony Saturday. Joel T. Diekhoff was charged with felony malicious harassment and taken to the Kootenai County jail, according to police. Police responded to the area of South 19th Street and Mullen Avenue after Demetrius K. Lee, 39, said a white man with several Aryan tattoos yelled slurs and threatened him for walking in front of his house. Lee said he was on his morning walk to Sanders Beach and has lived in the area for six years. Lee said the man, who police identified as Diekhoff after interviewing witnesses, came out of the house with three other men to “beat him up.” Lee ran to his friend’s house and got a baseball bat, police said, then returned to the area and had a heated conversation with Diekhoff. He then left and called the police.