Woman says Trevor Bauer punched, strangled her

Staff Writer

Published June 30, 2021 Updated July 1, 2021 8:40 PM PT

The following article includes graphic details of sexual assault allegations.

The woman who obtained a restraining order against Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer on Tuesday was diagnosed as having suffered “assault by manual strangulation” in a sexual encounter with him last month, according to a hospital examination report she filed to explain why she sought the order.

In the report, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the woman told her story of how private messages she and Bauer exchanged on Instagram developed into two sexual encounters at Bauer’s home, in which she was choked and lost consciousness on both occasions and was hit in the face on the second occasion.

“I agreed to have consensual sex,” she wrote in a court declaration, “however, I did not agree or consent to what he did next. I did not agree to be sexually assaulted.”

Jon Fetterolf, an agent representing Bauer, issued a statement Tuesday that said in part: “We have messages that show [the woman] repeatedly asking for ‘rough’ sexual encounters involving requests to be ‘choked out’ and slapped in the face. … Any allegations that the pair’s encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The temporary restraining order was granted Tuesday. A hearing in the case is set for July 23.

Major League Baseball has launched an investigation, gathering information — including the restraining order — that first would be used to determine whether to remove Bauer from the Dodgers’ active roster and put him on leave.

On Wednesday, Bauer traveled with the Dodgers to Washington. His next scheduled start is Sunday.

Under baseball’s domestic violence policy, Commissioner Rob Manfred has the option to place Bauer on paid administrative leave for seven days. If the league requires additional time for an investigation, it can extend the leave, with the cooperation of the players’ union.

Any suspension would follow an investigation. A player can be suspended under the policy, even if he is not charged with a crime. Since the adoption of the policy in 2015, players have been suspended for a range of 15 games to an entire season.

The domestic violence policy was collectively bargained; teams cannot act independently during the league investigation and any possible disciplinary process unless the league explicitly says so.

Bauer’s representatives provided The Times with text messages from May 9, between the woman’s first and second visits to his home. In them, she wrote to Bauer that she had “never been more turned on in my life” by him choking her. “Gimme all the pain. Rawr.”

The Times has not been able to authenticate text messages cited by the woman in the restraining order request or by Bauer’s attorney.

Later in the exchange, Bauer wrote that he wanted to put his “arm around your neck from behind.” The woman responded: “Do it. Harder.”

Law enforcement sources told The Times they are aware of the text exchanges about the sexual interaction and that Bauer’s defense is she actively participated in the physically violent interaction.

The evidence the woman submitted to the court included pictures depicting her head injuries and a medical report diagnosing her “acute head injury.”

In her court filing, the woman wrote that she had cooperated with Pasadena police as early as May 18, two days after her most recent encounter.

“I am deeply concerned that no arrest has been made or charges filed,” she wrote.

Said Bryan Freedman, her attorney: “Any suggestion that she was not the victim of assault is not only false and defamatory but, in fact, perpetuates the abuse.

“Our client truly wants Mr. Bauer to engage in a medically appropriate therapeutic process where he can receive the treatment he needs to never act this way again. If he is willing to meaningfully participate in a process directed by appropriate professionals, it will go a long way toward allowing her to feel safe and resolving this matter. But, regardless, she cannot allow this to happen unknowingly to anyone else.”

In her declaration, the woman wrote that the first encounter was “consensual and non-threatening” until Bauer “began putting his fingers down my throat in an aggressive manner” and soon thereafter “wrapped my hair around my neck and choked me.” She wrote that she became unconscious and later awoke to find Bauer had initiated anal sex.

“I felt sick from losing consciousness and had a lot of pain in my anus,” she wrote.

After three weeks of messages between the two, the woman again visited Bauer. She wrote that he again wrapped her hair around her neck, choking her and causing her to lose consciousness. This time, she wrote, he also hit her.

“Trevor began punching my face,” she wrote. “This was the first punch I felt but it is very possible that Trevor had already been punching and scratching the right side of my face while I was unconscious.

“Trevor then punched me hard with a closed fist to the left side of my jaw, the left side of my head, and both cheekbones. I remember this vividly and it was extremely startling and painful. I was absolutely frozen and terrified. I could not speak or move. After punching me several times, he then flipped me back onto my stomach, and began choking me with hair.

“I lost consciousness again. I re-gained consciousness even more disoriented. I had a terrible pain behind both of my ears. I tasted blood in my mouth and felt that my lip was split open. My whole body hurt and I could not even tell if he was having sex with me.”

She wrote that she drove back to her San Diego home and awoke the next day with a split lip, a swollen jaw and cheekbones, two black eyes, “over 10” scratches on her face, and bruises on her gums, buttocks and vagina.

In an 18-hour period, she underwent two medical examinations and sat for interviews with detectives from police departments in San Diego and Pasadena. Three days later, she wrote, Pasadena police directed her to call Bauer and ask what he did when she was unconscious.

Bauer said he had punched her buttocks and said: “I was trying to follow your lead.”

She wrote: “At the end of the phone call, at the police’s instructions, I said, ‘Thank you for acknowledging what you did to me.’ Trevor acknowledged it and asked how we could move forward and asked if he could still reach out. I told him that he could because I did not know if the police still needed to collect more messages from him as evidence.”

Since then, she wrote, Bauer has checked on her condition, offered to send groceries to her home, and offered financial assistance for her injury-related absence from work. She wrote that she would like Bauer to leave her alone.

In one of her last messages to Bauer, she wrote: “I appreciate all of your offers to help, but the best way you can help me is to never to do that to anyone else ever again.”

Bauer wrote back: “I would never do anything to hurt anyone. That includes you.”

The woman wrote that she had initially declined to identify Bauer to police because she was “afraid that Trevor will find me and hurt me.”

As for now, she wrote: “I am absolutely terrified of what will happen when all of this becomes public because he is a large public figure. Trevor has a large following of loyal fans who I fear will threaten me and resort to social media bashing. I am concerned about my safety.”

The National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached 24 hours a day at 1-800-656-4673.

Times staff writers Jorge Castillo, Mike DiGiovanna and Richard Winton contributed to this report.