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2 black Idaho State football players sue Idaho, Utah police

Boise, Idaho • Two black Idaho State University football players are suing law enforcement in Idaho and Utah, claiming they were illegally detained and arrested, and victims of excessive force based on their race.

Nehemiah McFarlin and Atoatasi Fox filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Utah.

According to the complaint, McFarlin and Fox pulled over at an exit in Box Elder County, Utah, following a single-car crash on Dec. 14, 2016, in McFarlin's 2017 Chevy Camaro.

The complaint says officers arrived, and with weapons drawn, ordered McFarlin and Fox out of the car, searched them, handcuffed them and told them they were under arrest for robbing a bank in Malad.

The complaint says McFarlin and Fox insisted they were innocent, had alibis and could not have been in Malad at the time of the robbery.

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By The Associated Press