No Charges Filed In Ohio University Street Sex Case Because No One Remembers What Happened
Neither the male accused of rape nor the 20-year-old female student who accused him have any memory of the incident, the Columbus Dispatch's Alex Felser reports. A grand jury did not find probable cause of a crime.
The alleged rape made national headlines after photos and video of the public sex act were uploaded to Twitter and Instagram.
Bystanders didn't report the incident to police, but the 20-year-old student came forward the next day to file a rape complaint after she saw a video on Instagram.
The police report notes that alcohol was involved in the incident. The woman did not know the man performing the sex act on her, according to the police report, but witnesses said the two appeared to be a couple.
In an email to Business Insider, a student who witnessed the public sex act and posted a photo of it on Twitter offered his perspective on why bystanders didn't intervene: "[It] did not seem like a rape or sexual assault, as the female was coherent enough to walk and talk. She was not passed out."
OU's sexual misconduct policy states that consent cannot be obtained from someone who is "asleep or otherwise mentally or physically incapacitated, whether due to alcohol, drugs or some other condition.