Craig Daily Press

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs Police Department is investigating a racially motivated knife fight that sent two men to the hospital with minor injuries March 7.

The incident, which began as a verbal altercation between a black man and three white men on a city bus, escalated into a physical fight at the Gondola Transit Center, police said.

The white men are thought to have been harassing the black man while riding the bus from downtown, Sgt. Dale Coyner said Friday. One of the three men yelled a racial slur after exiting the bus at the Gondola Transit Center, Coyner said.

In response, the black man pulled out a knife, ran off the bus and chased after them, Coyner said.

In the ensuing fight, one of the white men sustained a cut on his finger from the knife, Coyner said. The black man also was treated for minor injuries, Coyner said.

“It took a few days to get it all sorted out,” Coyner said.

The police department’s investigation is ongoing.

Stabbing goes to trial

The defendant in a separate racially motivated stabbing last July at Sunpie’s Bistro will stand trial this summer in Routt County District Court. On Jan. 28, Christopher Allen Hamm pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault, a Class 4 felony, and bias-motivated crime, a Class 5 felony.

Hamm allegedly stabbed Alfred Turner, a black man, in the thigh after telling him to “leave our white women alone” at the Yampa Street bar July 6.

Hamm’s trial is set to begin July 28. A motions hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. May 5, and a pretrial conference is at 3 p.m. June 20.