Report: Ohio Woman Filed Previous Protection Order Against Trevor Bauer
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic alleged accounts of domestic violence, threats and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
One day after Trevor Bauer's administrative leave was extended again due to allegations of sexual assault, news broke that a previous protection order was filed against the star Dodgers pitcher by a different woman.
Last year, an Ohio woman sought the temporary order due to repeated threats from Bauer after he allegedly assaulted her, according to The Washington Post. At the time, Bauer was a member of the Reds, though the woman's allegations of sexual assault against him date back to 2017, per The Post, when he was pitching for Cleveland.
On Aug. 2, 2017, the woman was at Bauer's apartment when she showed police officers photos of her with bruising on her face and blood in her eyes, according to The Post, which obtained the police report from that night. She told police those injuries resulted from a previous encounter between her and Bauer, who she says punched and choked her "during sex without her consent," per The Post.
Bauer had contacted authorities that night saying the woman "assaulted him and refused to leave." The woman arrived at his apartment drunk and "struck him several times," according to the police report. The woman was at least 10 inches shorter and approximately 80 pounds lighter than Bauer, the police report said, according to The Post. At the time, the woman was an adult, but not of legal drinking age. The police report said the woman denied striking Bauer, and then showed the officers the photos of her injuries, allegedly from the previous assault. Nothing became of her allegations against Bauer, according to The Post, but she was arrested for underage drinking, though the case was later expunged.
Bauer's lawyer Jon Fetterolf and agent Rachel Luba denied that Bauer had injured the Ohio woman, saying she made an "unwanted and unsolicited visit in which she was belligerent, heavily intoxicated and physically attacked [Bauer]."
These records obtained by The Post show the aggressive tactics Bauer's attorneys and representatives have used to refute the claims of the California and Ohio accusers. The Post obtained the photos the woman showed police on Aug. 2, 2017, as well as additional photos of the woman that showed bruises on her cheeks and around her left eye. Her attorney, Joseph Darwal, said those injuries were from when Bauer hit her without consent during sex in 2018, though The Post couldn’t independently confirm the setting of that alleged incident.
The Ohio woman requested the temporary order against Bauer in June 2020, which came out of an ex parte proceeding, because of threatening messages he had allegedly sent her. "I don't feel like spending time in jail for killing someone," one message read, according to The Post. "And that's what would happen if I saw you again."
In an undated Snapchat message, Bauer allegedly wrote, "Like the only reason I'd ever consider seeing you again is to choke you unconscious, punch you in the face shove my fist up your a-- skull f--- you and kick you out naked. And obviously I would never do something like that to anyone. So can't even enjoy the one thing I sometimes enjoyed with you."
Bauer's representatives told The Post they "strongly call into question the validity" of the Snapchat messages since the pitcher no longer has access to it.
Per the report, Bauer also allegedly threatened to send a video of him and the woman engaging in sexual intercourse to one of her family members, according to the woman's former attorney.
His representatives said in a statement to The Post that the two were in an "on-and-off" consensual relationship for approximately three years and that the woman pursued him. Fetterolf and Luba also told The Post that the allegations of physical abuse were "categorically false."
The woman later voluntarily dropped the order against Bauer.
“What started out as our client’s attempt to protect herself—first by filing a protective order—turned into months of additional fear, stress and continuous threats,” Darwal and Kendra Barkoff Lamy, a spokeswoman for the woman, said in a statement to The Post. “Ultimately, our client made the decision that moving forward with any legal action was not worth the potential public shaming and baseless lawsuits threatened by Bauer’s team. She never wanted any of this public.”
Bauer is currently being investigated for separate sexual assault allegations, and the accuser, a California woman, filed a domestic violence ex parte restraining order—the same type of order as the Ohio woman—on June 28. A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled for Aug. 16, per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya.
The 30-year-old is accused of assaulting the California woman on two occasions earlier this year. The woman in question said Bauer committed multiple non-consensual acts after what began as consensual sex.
She alleges the pitcher choked her unconscious and penetrated her anally without consent in April. A similar incident allegedly happened again in May, when the woman said Bauer choked her unconscious. When she regained consciousness, the pitcher was repeatedly punching her in the head. She ended up in the hospital with severe trauma.
Bauer has not spoken publicly about the California woman's allegations, but on Saturday he posted a statement to Twitter denying The Post's report, saying the paper is attempting to create a "false narrative" of him.
"The Washington Post has spent the last six months digging into my life and attempting to contact hundreds of female friends and acquaintances with whom they suspect I had some form of romantic relationship," Bauer said.
"Despite my representatives providing a wealth of contradictory evidence, documents statements and background information showing the pattern of disturbing behavior by this woman and her attorneys, The Washington Post opted to ignore much of this information and to run a salacious story disseminating defamatory statements, false information and baseless allegations from a woman who has not only harassed and physically assaulted me but who also attempted to extort me for million of dollars last year in exchange for her not coming forward with false claims."
The Dodgers pitcher has been on administrative leave since July 2 under the league's joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy as the league and Pasadena Police Department continue to investigate the sexual assault allegations against him. The league and MLBPA can agree to continue to extend Bauer's leave.