Sexual assault charges against three men, including a Bemidji State hockey player, were dismissed on Thursday because prosecutors said they couldn’t prove that the sex wasn’t consentual.
Bemidji indefinitely suspended senior Riley Riddell from the hockey team after the charges were filed in September. The Bemidji Pioneer newspaper reported that a statement from the school said “there are no plans to change that status.”
The Associated Press reported that assistant Anoka County attorney Paul Young said his decision was based on the quality of evidence, not because of doubts of the woman’s story.
Riddell, Scott Savre and Tyrone Orde had been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The woman told police that one of the men gave her a drink that knocked her out during an off-campus party on Sept. 19 and that the three then raped her.
Youg told the Pioneer, “We have no evidence of any type of drug or substance in the evidence that was tested.”
