Chalk on a sidewalk at Idaho Capitol led to police assault, abortion rights group claims

An abortion rights group has accused Idaho State Police of assaulting one of its demonstrators who was writing in chalk on a sidewalk in front of the Idaho Capitol.

The group was demonstrating Tuesday in support of abortion rights in front of the Statehouse, where an event later that evening was taking place in support of the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade — an event that was met by protesters.

According to an Instagram post from Wednesday, one of the demonstrators had arrived first at the Capitol and was by herself when she was approached by Idaho state troopers. They told her she couldn’t use chalk on the sidewalk, though they did not cite a law, the group said.

When the woman continued to write, one of the officers “grabbed her arm, which resulted in ripping her shirt and leaving significant bruising on her arm,” Kimra Luna, co-founder of Idaho Abortion Rights, told the Idaho Statesman by phone.

“She wasn’t arrested, they did not give her a citation, but they assaulted her,” Luna said. “They said that they needed to, you know, balance their priorities, and so we asked them, ‘So your priority is to assault a person before giving them a citation?’ ”

When the group had finished chalking the sidewalk, ISP troopers washed off the sidewalk with hoses, Luna told the Statesman.

“She’s very shaken up,” Luna said. “I felt the fact that she continued to chalk even after she was assaulted was her being extremely brave, and, you know, basically showing the police that we will continue to practice our rights to free speech.”

Who owns the sidewalks by the Capitol in Boise?

Idaho law states that “it is not an offense under this section for a person to engage in expressive conduct on the public sidewalks using non-permanent, non-toxic chalk in a manner that does not obstruct or interfere with the use of the sidewalks.”

The rule was rewritten to allow the use of chalk on public sidewalks in 2020, which had previously been illegal for 70 years.

When contacted about the incident, Tecia Ferguson, Idaho State Police public information officer, released the following statement to the Statesman via email: “ISP Troopers did not arrest or cite anyone yesterday for using sidewalk chalk on the capitol mall complex. ISP Troopers did work to educate several individuals about the IDAPA (Idaho Administrative Code) Rules that apply at the capitol mall complex.”

The email cited Idaho code regarding the exterior use of state property managed by Capitol Mall Services, which states that “users shall not use any material to mark on any surface of the state facilities including chalk, paint, pens, ink, or dye.”

In terms of whether the sidewalk extending from the Capitol is also managed by Capitol Mall Services, an additional section of the code defines the outermost part of the building’s Jefferson Steps as “the hard surface extending between the steps and the public sidewalk along Jefferson Street.”

Capitol Mall Services Facilities Manager Paul Navarro told the Statesman by phone that although the ownership of sidewalks surrounding nearby buildings can be a “gray area,” the sidewalk in front of the Capitol is considered the purview of Capitol Mall Services.

“We don’t know what piece of sidewalk we’re allowed to write on,” Luna said. “It doesn’t even matter. Even if she was writing right on the freaking Capitol with chalk, she should not be assaulted.”

Complaints about Idaho State Police

Luna said she invited the woman to her home following the demonstration.

“I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t left alone at the Capitol,” Luna said. “I felt extremely unsafe, having her near any of those officers.”

Luna said they took the woman to the hospital in response to legal advice. The woman was treated and plans to file a report against the Idaho State Police, Luna said.

“We didn’t even have posters, you know, we didn’t even have protest posters,” Luna said. “We were not chanting, we didn’t have megaphones, we had nothing. We just had chalk.”

Several Instagram posts from the same account showed the group participating in similar demonstrations in the past.

Idaho Abortion Rights had previously used chalk on sidewalks near the Capitol building to write messages supporting abortion access before Roe v. Wade was overturned, and separate organizations had used chalk in response to the school shooting at Uvalde, Texas.

“The police never (did) anything to us then,” Luna said. “They make up their own laws, and they purposely make it vague so they can harm us.”

Luna said the rules regarding sidewalks are ambiguous, which is something they believe the state and city should address more openly.

“The police, even when we’re doing things completely peaceful, not causing any harm, they’re still harming us,” Luna said. “And I think that that is starting to become blatantly clear that they do not want us to practice our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech.”