No criminal charges for LA Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer
Editor’s Note: This story links out to a video that includes descriptions of multiple sexual encounters.
Trevor Bauer will not face criminal charges stemming from allegations of sexual assault, CBS Los Angeles reports. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher has been on administrative leave since July after police confirmed he was under investigation.
“After a thorough review of all the available evidence, including the civil restraining order proceedings, witness statements and the physical evidence, the People are unable to prove the relevant charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” a charge evaluation worksheet from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office reads, according to CBS Los Angeles.
In a video posted on social media shortly after the announcement was made, Bauer said “both my representatives and I have expected this outcome from the beginning.” Bauer added that he had not made many previous statements about the case because “I believe that allegations as serious as these should be fully investigated and not adjudicated in the media.”
The Pasadena Police Department in June confirmed it was investigating an allegation that Bauer assaulted a San Diego woman at his home on April 21 and May 16. Major League Baseball quickly placed Bauer on leave, which the league is allowed to do even if charges aren’t filed under its domestic violence policy.
The 27-year-old woman asked for a five-year extension of a temporary restraining order against Bauer, but a judge in August denied her request. During her testimony, the woman alleged, among other things, that Bauer choked her until she lost consciousness during a sexual encounter.
Bauer has denied all wrongdoing. Bauer’s agent, Jon Fetterolf, said in August that his client and the woman had a “brief and wholly consensual sexual relationship,” beginning in April 2021. He added that Bauer had messages from the woman in which she “repeatedly asking for ‘rough’ sexual encounters.”
In his video message on Tuesday, Bauer said the “majority” of reports surrounding the case “are based on what the Los Angeles Superior Court has deemed to be a ‘materially misleading petition.'” He then provided his side of the story, saying “I had consensual sex with this woman on two occasions at my residence in Pasadena, during which we engaged in rough sex.”
Bauer claimed both he and the woman agreed to rough sex and “established rules and boundaries, and I followed them.”
In August, The Washington Post reported Bauer was the subject of a separate 2020 temporary protection order after an Ohio woman accused him of physically abusing her without her consent during sex and later sending threatening messages.
Fetterolf told the Post those allegations were “categorically false.”
After winning the National League Cy Young Award in 2020 with the Cincinnati Reds, Bauer signed a three-year deal with the Dodgers worth $102 million in 2021. At the time he was placed on leave, Bauer had an 8–5 record and a 2.59 ERA in the 2021 season.
Sophie Reardon contributed reporting.
