Steele County District Attorney's Office drops charges against Blooming Prairie football coach

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – On Monday, the Steele County Prosecutor’s Office (SCAO) announced that no criminal charges would be filed against police. Blooming Prairie football coach who kidnapped a Byron student football player by face mask.

The office said the investigation into the coach is looking into assault charges, but under Minnesota law a person can only be convicted of assault if it can be proven that the act was intentional.

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

According to the letter, the concerned Byron student reported that the coach said, “No, you cannot push it out of bounds,” as he took his face mask.

The relevant coach stated that the second young man stood in one place while trying to prevent him from going out of the field towards the track where the first young man was. The coach thought he was grabbing the youth’s shoulder pads to slow them down and accidentally grabbed the helmet and face mask. The coach said he felt very bad but didn’t want anything malicious to happen. The coach understood why the teenager’s parents would be upset and apologized for his behavior.

The video clip of the incident is alarming; However, the integrity of the incident needs to be reviewed. In this incident, the coach did not face, move towards, or otherwise further interact with the opposing team’s youth beyond holding the mask from where he stood on the sideline. The coach stated that he tried to prevent the player from running and going off the field. Considering the coach’s behavior before and after the capture, it will not be possible for the state to refute this claim. There is no evidence that the coach’s intentions were criminal or malicious.

The SCAO says face masks can often be accidentally caught as students become caught up in the excitement of the game, and that although this incident occurred between a coach and a player (rather than two players), it “qualifies as a football-like action.” “It is not an action whose purpose is to harm someone else.”

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

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