A new report from ESPN's Outside The Lines has unearthed details about new allegations of assault -- both sexual and physical -- against former Baylor football players, as well as methods the Waco Police Department used to shield the allegations from public view.
According to the report, newly discovered documents also show that Baylor officials, including some members of the Baylor coaching staff, knew about the incidents; however, most of the players involved never missed any game time due to discipline stemming from them.
It's a long, and somewhat disturbing story worth reading in its entirety, but there are three major themes to take away from it.
1. Waco police wanted to shield allegations from the public. Regarding an assault case from 2011 that took place off-campus and involved three Baylor players -- defensive lineman Gary Mason, running back Isaac Williams and cornerback Tyler Stephenson -- being charged, the Waco police took steps to keep the case out of the public eye due to "the potential high-profile nature of the incident."
The investigating officer asked the commander that "the case be pulled from the computer system so that only persons who had a reason to inquire about the report would be able to access it," per ESPN, and the case was instead kept in a locked office.
There was also a sexual assault allegation against former Baylor safety Ahmad Dixon that was kept in "open-case status" for four years. Under Texas' open records law, keeping the case in such a status shields the case's details from public view. Dixon, who spoke to Outside The Lines on the record, and the alleged victim both denied that the assault ever took place. Waco police told Outside The Lines they couldn't say why the case remains open to this day.
2. There are new allegations against former Baylor players that went unreported. Stephenson, one of the three Baylor players allegedly involved in the off-campus assault of another student, came up in other documents as well. In April 2012 a woman told Waco police that after trying to break up with Stephenson, he lured her to his apartment an then "violently restrained her." The woman told police that Stephenson "pushed me on the couch and wrestled me for my phone so that I couldn't call for help," and that after she got outside the apartment and tried to call 911 Stephenson " charged me and picked me up and threw me against the [exterior] apartment wall. I hit my head and immediately felt dizzy." She says Stephenson then grabbed her by the hair in a parking lot and tried to take her phone when three men approached the scene and Stephenson fled.
A witness corroborated the woman's story, but although police prepared an arrest warrant for Stephenson, the case was closed after the woman did not return several messages left for her.
In April 2014, Baylor running back Devin Chafin allegedly grabbed a woman's arm and slammed it into a car in front of teammates and other witnesses. The woman showed the police photos of her bruised arm and told them that weeks earlier Chafin had "grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against a wall, then threw her to the floor and kicked her." The police report stated that the woman was uncertain of pressing charges against Chafin, so no legal action was never taken against him.
3. Victims say they didn't press charges because they felt nothing would be done. The woman who accused Chafin of slamming her arm into a car, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the wall went to Baylor football chaplain Wes Leary and told him everything she had reported to the police. She told Outside The Lines that school president Ken Starr and Baylor coach Art Briles were also made aware of the allegations against Chafin, but Chafin was never disciplined by the school for the incident.
As for why she didn't pursue criminal charges against him, the woman told Outside The Lines she'd "seen other girls go through it, and nothing ever happened to the football players. It's mind-boggling to see it continue to happen. I can't understand why. I think as long as they're catching footballs and scoring touchdowns, the school won't do anything."
The student who was allegedly assaulted by the three football players shared a similar sentiment. "He figured because they were football players then nothing was going to be done anyway," an officer wrote in the student's police report. "I asked him why he thought that and he said that he has heard anecdotal stories of football players getting into altercations or disturbances and nothing ever being done."
