WACO, TX – DECEMBER 5: Devin Chafin #28 of the Baylor Bears runs against Edwin Freeman #35 of the Texas Longhorns in the second quarter at McLane Stadium on December 5, 2015 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

As expected, the dark cloud over the Baylor football program is not going away without a few more rumbles of thunder. On Tuesday, former ESPN reporter Joe Schad reported recently dismissed Baylor running back Devin Chafin allegedly assaulted a former Baylor student three times. Making things worse, the alleged victim claims former head coach Art Briles and running backs coach Jeff Lebby and others were aware of the assault claims and did not act on it.

Schad, who reported the story on his Facebook page as he hangs in employment lingo as he winds down at ESPN, reports Dolores Lozano was “slammed” against a vehicle by Chafin in April 2014 and was later “forcibly and aggressively grabbed” and “slammed” by Chafin. Lozano shared multiple photos of her injuries claimed to be a result of Chafin’s alleged actions.

From Schad’s Facebook report;

Lozano states that after the first incident, she reported what happened to Chafin’s mother and Lebby, who is still on Baylor’s coaching staff.
Lozano says she exchanged text messages with Lebby about the alleged incident, while trying to decide if she should go to Waco police. She also claims “Chafin’s mom urged her “not to report the issue to police.”

Chafin issued a denial to Schad, who relayed the denial in a follow-up Facebook posting.

Former Baylor running back Devin Chafin admits he “grabbed” Dolores Lozano “because she was fighting me” but claims he “never threw her to the ground, kicked her or choked her.”

Chafin told me: “The story has been falsely constructed. No one knows the entire story. This girl is not who she claims to be.” Chafin said he never discussed the situation with former head coach Art Briles, but did with current assistant Jeff Lebby.

Chafin says he was never interviewed by police in Waco and he says there were no criminal charges for a reason. Chafin was suspended by Baylor this spring for a pot arrest. Briles, who has since been removed as head coach of the Bears, expected Chafin to return to the team soon enough as it was his first offense on record. Chafin was removed from the roster last week following his connection to the report published by Outside the Lines.

Perhaps that is important to keep in mind as well. If Briles did know about this alleged incident and opted to suspend Chafin for a pot arrest and not do anything in response to possible physical abuse of a woman, that is just a dirty and awful look.

The independent investigation of Baylor’s response to these types of incidents mentioned multiple coaches failed to report various incidents. Whether this is one of the incidents referenced by the Pepper Hamilton report remains unconfirmed for now.

[Joe Schad, Our Daily Bears]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.