A former Baylor student who accused ex-Bears running back Devin Chafin of physically assaulting her three times has filed a Title IX lawsuit against the university, according to documents filed Wednesday in federal court.
Dolores Lozano's lawsuit alleges she told several people at the school -- including a senior associate athletic director -- of the assaults but that her concerns were ignored and no one at Baylor conducted an investigation.
Baylor is facing three other Title IX lawsuits, two of which involved women who say they were assaulted by football players.
In late May, after the Baylor board of regents received a presentation from law firm Pepper Hamilton -- which it had hired to review the school's handling of sexual violence complaints -- the regents announced the demotion of president Ken Starr to chancellor, the suspension of football coach Art Briles with intent to terminate, and probation for athletic director Ian McCaw. Within weeks, McCaw resigned, Briles was fired and Starr stepped down from all leadership positions at Baylor and eventually resigned as law professor at the university.
The school's Title IX coordinator, Patty Crawford, resigned last week amid accusations that remaining senior leadership was standing in her way of properly investigating complaints. Crawford's attorney said she had received "hundreds" of complaints, about 5 percent of which involved student-athletes as alleged perpetrators; male athletes make up about 4 percent of male undergraduates at Baylor.
It is unclear whether there was ever a Title IX investigation involving Chafin, though the lawsuit states that several Baylor employees and an administrator were notified.
Lozano reported to police on April 11, 2014, that Chafin had grabbed her arm and slammed it against a car, in front of teammates and another witness. She provided photos of bruises on her arm to police. She told police 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, according to a police report. In that report, the officer wrote that the woman was uncertain about pressing charges, and no legal action was taken.
Chafin played in nine of 13 games the following season, including the opener. He was charged with marijuana possession in March and suspended by Briles immediately for spring practice before being reinstated to the team.
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 said 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 that 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, who the lawsuit states was worried about Chafin's violent acts and concerned for her well-being, then reached out to Baylor sports chaplain Wes Yeary, who she said gave her "literature to assist her in her spiritual self-worth and preservation."
The second alleged assault occurred April 5, 2014, three weeks after the meeting with Yeary, the lawsuit states. She said she sought medical treatment at an on-campus clinic and was referred to a Baylor counseling center, according to the lawsuit, and she then reported the two incidents to Waco, Texas, police. According to the lawsuit, Lozano was told an investigator would follow up with her, but she said she never heard from anyone and that police did not return her phone calls.
The last page of the police report states that "she was not sure if she wanted to press charges at this time and that she did not want to have a protective order against him yet," and that she was getting counseling at Baylor. The lawsuit states there was a third assault, later in April, in which Chafin "forcibly and aggressively grabbed [Lozano] and slammed her to the ground."
She went to Harris-Williams, who the lawsuit states encouraged Lozano to follow up with police, and notified Yeary. Waco police records made available to Outside The Lines do not have record of a third assault, and the lawsuit does not state whether Lozano reported it to any law enforcement agency.
The lawsuit alleges that Harris-Williams, who "vehemently requested" that administrators do something to help Lozano, was "forced to resign one year later after voicing her discontent with administrators."
After Lozano went public with her story earlier this year, it was reported that she had sought Lebby's assistance to secure a marketing job at Baylor in August 2015. Lozano, who graduated in 2014, currently works as communications coordinator for the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee. She also used to work for Houston's ESPN radio affiliate.
Officials with Baylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Lozano nor her attorney returned messages left Wednesday.
Chafin, who now plays for Missouri Southern State, did not respond to a request for an interview, though officials at the school indicated they were trying to reach him.
Neither Lebby nor Post immediately responded to requests for information, and a representative for Baylor said the school "does not comment on active or pending litigation."