The Steele County Attorney’s Office is dropping charges against the Blooming Prairie football coach

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – On Monday, the Steele County Attorney’s Office (SCAO) announced that no criminal charges will be filed against Blooming Prairie football coach who kidnapped a Byron football student through the mask.

The office said the bus investigation looked into allegations of assault, but under Minnesota law a person can only be convicted of assault if it can be proven the act was intentional.

According to the letter, Steele County Prosecutor Robert Jarrett concluded that there was “insufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find proof beyond a reasonable doubt that an assault occurred.”

According to the letter, Byron’s student reported that the coach stated, “No, you cannot push him out of bounds” as he grabbed his mask.

The coach involved stated that he stood in one place while trying to stop the second player from going out of bounds towards the track where the first player was. The coach believed he grabbed the youngster’s shoulder pads to slow him down and accidentally grabbed his helmet and mask. The coach said he felt terrible but didn’t want anything bad to happen. The coach understood why the teen’s parents would be upset and apologized for his behavior.

The video footage of the event is alarming; however, the entire incident must be reviewed. The coach did not confront, approach, or otherwise interact with the opposing team’s youth beyond grabbing his mask from where he stood on the sidelines. The coach stated that he was trying to stop the player from going further off the field and taking further off-field activities. The state would not be able to disprove this claim given the trainer’s actions before and after the kidnapping. There is no evidence that the coach’s intentions were criminal or that he had any malicious intent.

The SCAO says face masks can often be accidentally grabbed while students are caught up in the excitement of the game, and while this incident occurred between a coach and a player (rather than two players), “it is consistent with football-like behavior and is not it is an act intended to harm another person.”

Jarrett’s report states that the coach apologized for his behavior.

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