No Charges: SFSU Police Suspend Riley Gaines Hostage, Assault Investigation

The San Francisco State University (SFSU) Police Department has suspended its investigation into the April 2023 incident where former NCAA swimmer and women's sports activist Riley Gaines was allegedly held hostage and assaulted by a mob of transgender activists, saying that the alleged charges were "unfounded."

Gaines was speaking at an event on the university campus, sharing her experience in a national swimming championship that made her compete with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas when trans activists stormed the room she was in, turned off the lights, and allegedly assaulted her before taking her hostage.

She was then barricaded in a room after the assault, and the protesters continually hit her multiple times despite police protection, she claimed.

University Police 'Suspended' Gaines Hostage Incident Despite Evidence

Gaines - who has since married her college sweetheart, presented an Outkick podcast titled "Gaines for Girls," and became the director of the Riley Gaines Center at the conservative advocacy group Leadership Institute - told Fox News Digital that the university's police department was asking her of any video or audio evidence to continue their investigation despite her repeatedly providing information about it immediately after the incident.

"We talked for multiple hours," she explained. "I told them over and over and over and over and over again what had happened, which, all the while, both of the officers that I was talking to were there, so it is not like they didn't know what happened."

Campus police responded a few months later for Gaines to come back to share her story again, but she was advised against doing so since she had already given a statement to police, making the undertaking counter-productive.

Gaines also said the campus police had promised to give her security footage for her review by the beginning of July but said "they never provided the footage."

Gaines's Experience as a 'Precedent' for Other Activists

Recalling the incident, Gaines described the mob as "everything under the sun."

"Women, men, men dressed as women, women dressed as men - and everything in between, which is why it was so disorienting," she said. "These people turned the lights off, flickered the lights for a bit, which I imagine was done entirely strategically. I was confused and trying to make sense of what was happening."

Gaines said that the suspension of the investigation could set a precedent for conservative activists like her being assaulted by those opposing their views.

"This just encourages what happened to me to happen to other people because the precedent has now been set," she said. "We don't see this happening to liberal speakers or to anyone with a dissenting viewpoint to that of my own."

Meanwhile, Gaines also reshared the video of the incident on X, formerly Twitter.

"I guess audio, video, & eyewitness evidence aren't admissible in SF," she quipped.

Sportskeeda reported that her fans and supporters were upset with the development.

"That is sickening," one user responded. "They even asked for cash to let you go."

"Absolutely shameful," Sky News Australia presenter Rita Panahi added. "Hang your heads, @SFPD & anyone else complicit in this cowardice."

"That's ridiculous," a fan ranted. "No consequences [means] no violence."

Meanwhile, an alumnus of SFSU lamented how campus police handled the case.

"Sad to say that my Alma mater, SFSU, is well and truly in and of the San Francisco Doom Loop," Rene Drew responded. "It was once a very laudable institution. No longer. Keep fighting Riley."

Tags

Us, Swimming, California, San francisco, Transgender, LGBTQ, Ncaa