Fourth Title IX lawsuit filed against Baylor
A fourth Title IX lawsuit has been filed against Baylor University, this one by a female former student who accused former running back Devin Chafin of physically assaulting her three times.
The documents, which were filed Wednesday in federal court, stated Dolores Lozano told several people at the school, including a senior associate athletics director, about the assaults but was ignored and Baylor never investigated her claims. According to ESPN.com, it is unknown whether a Title IX investigation was ever opened against Chafin.
The lawsuit states that Lozano reported the first alleged assault (on March 6, 2014) to Baylor running backs coach Jeff Lebby, who said he would talk to Chafin about the incident. Prior media reports have stated that Lebby admonished Chafin for the incident and assigned him extra work at practice. According to the lawsuit, Lozano, who was manager of Baylor’s acrobatics and tumbling team, told her then-supervisor LaPrise Harris-Williams about the incident and she reported it immediately to her supervisor, associate athletic director Nancy Post, Baylor’s senior women’s administrator.
The lawsuit alleges that Post “completely disregarded” Lozano’s complaint and that “no further action was taken by Post, no report was filed, and the incident was disregarded as just another complaint.”
Lozano said she went to Baylor sports Chaplain Wes Yeary, who she said gave her “literature to assist her in her spiritual self-worth and preservation.”
A second alleged assault occurred on April 5, 2014 when Chafin allegedly grabbed Lozano by the throat, slammed her against a wall, then threw her to the floor and kicked her, according to the police report obtained by ESPN.com. The alleged assault required medical attention.
A third assault happened on April 11, 2014 when Chafin allegedly grabbed Lozano’s arm and slammed it up against a car in front of his Baylor teammates and other witnesses. She reported the incident to the police and took pictures of her injuries.
According to Lozano’s lawsuit, she was told an investigator would look into the incidents, but she never heard back from police and her phone calls to the department went unreturned.
Chafin went on to play in nine of 13 games that following season, including the season opener. Chafin was dismissed in June after being named in an Outside The Lines report regarding the assaults against Lozano. Chafin currently plays for Missouri Southern State.
Baylor has three other pending Title IX cased, two of which involve women who say they were assaulted by football players.
Just last week, the school’s Title IX coordinator, Patty Crawford, resigned because she felt senior leadership wasn’t allowing her to do her job properly. She and Baylor tried to settle their grievances, but she refused to sign a confidentiality agreement and went public with her story.
For more Baylor news, visit SicEmSports.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
