ESPN Baylor Report Reveals More Allegations, Possible Police Coverups
By Ty Duffy
ESPN’s Outside the Lines has been digging into the Baylor football program. The school has been accused of mishandling sexual assault allegations. Baylor’s board of regents has received the report of a law firm’s independent investigation. Today’s report added some further context, involving police coverups and ignoring domestic assault claims.
The report cites documents showing Waco police pulled paperwork related to an off-campus assault involving football players in 2011 from its computer system to shield them from public access “given the potential high-profile nature of the incident.”
Waco police have kept the case for a sexual assault allegation against former Bears safety Ahmad Dixon active for four years, in effect shielding the documents from public view. Both Dixon and the alleged victim assert that assault did not happen.
"Dixon told Outside the Lines this week the woman made up the allegation because she was angry with him. The woman, who initially denied to Outside the Lines she was the same person who reported the incident to police, later acknowledged trying to get Dixon in trouble by filing the report. In June 2015, the woman made a domestic violence allegation against another player, and in that report, Waco police noted that she and her family have a long criminal history with the police department and that her accounts toward Dixon and the other football player were not believable."
The report also details three separate incidents of players being accused of domestic assaults. In one, a woman said she informed Baylor’s team chaplain and says Baylor head coach Art Briles and school president Ken Starr were also informed. She also said she had not been contacted by Baylor’s independent investigation.
"The woman told Outside the Lines she didn’t press criminal charges against him because she was about to graduate and didn’t think the school would punish him. She said that investigators from Pepper Hamilton have not contacted her. “I’d seen other girls go through it, and nothing ever happened to the football players,” she said. “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.”"
In two others, reports were filed with police but the alleged victims declined to press charges. Per the report it was “unclear” in many cases whether Baylor investigated the incidents or players were punished.
It’s not clear what ramifications this will have for the Baylor football program, Art Briles, Ken Starr or the school itself. Baylor, as a private school, has no requirement to release the report. But, this continues to look terrible.