Driver Charged After Fatal Becker County Motorcycle Crash
A 25-year-old Waubun man with a prior DWI conviction has been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide after a deadly motorcycle crash in Becker County last month.
Jacob Jerome Riggle is accused of causing the death of a woman on May 26 while driving a motorcycle under the influence of alcohol.
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According to the criminal complaint, deputies responded just after 8:20 p.m. to the intersection of County Highway 56 and County Road 117 and found the woman unresponsive in a nearby swamp. She was later airlifted to a hospital in Fargo. Riggle remained on scene and admitted to deputies that he had been drinking.
An initial breath test showed a blood alcohol concentration of .138. Riggle told a deputy he had “three beers and two shots a long time ago.” He could not say where he had been drinking or where he had come from. Deputies secured a warrant for a blood sample, which was sent to the BCA for analysis. Those results are still pending as of June 17.
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Riggle told deputies he had purchased the motorcycle about a week earlier. Only he and the woman were on the bike at the time of the crash. A nearby resident said Riggle admitted at the scene that he had been driving.
The victim remained hospitalized and unconscious for more than two weeks before her death was confirmed on June 13. A provisional autopsy completed by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded she died from complications of closed head injuries sustained in the crash.
Riggle has a prior DWI conviction from 2020 and has pending drug possession and DWI charges in two separate counties. He remains in custody under an order for detention. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
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