Suspended BU player named in protective order hires Waco attorney

Suspended Baylor senior defensive back Travon Blanchard, who’s named in a protective order issued Tuesday after he was accused by a woman with whom he had a relationship of multiple acts of violence against her, has hired Waco attorney Michelle Tuegel.

“We are investigating the allegations made against Travon Blanchard by his ex-girlfriend,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

“It is important that people not rush to judgment in this situation. Travon is hopeful that this matter will be resolved and that he will have the opportunity to move forward as a student and as an athlete.”

Blanchard is a star defensive back for Baylor, and was returning for his senior year as an All-Big 12 honoree, but has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, Director of Athletic Communications David Kaye said in a brief statement.

"Immediately upon notification on Feb. 7, the appropriate campus student-conduct process was initiated and Blanchard was suspended indefinitely from all team related activities, pending the outcome of the investigation," Kaye said.

The school and its football team was rocked by a 2016 scandal involving sexual assault and violence against women.

The order was applied for by the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office on behalf of the woman earlier this month, and was signed by a Waco judge Tuesday.

The order says that Blanchard, whose full name is Garland Travon Blanchard, engaged in acts of violence and that there is a “threat of family violence in the future”.

It orders Blanchard to have no communication with the woman, and to stay away from her residence.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the order, on Feb. 4, Blanchard became upset when a waiter approached the woman at a restaurant and asked whether they knew each other.

Blanchard “began verbally abusing the applicant”, and followed her as she tried to leave, the affidavit says.

He grabbed her hand in an attempt to take her car keys and broke her finger, cutting the finger “to the point where she was unable to have it stitched,” the affidavit says.

She was able to flag down a nearby police officer, but Blanchard fled the scene, and police weren’t able to find him.

It’s not clear from the affidavit where this incident occurred, and Waco police do not have record of the incident.

In an earlier incident on Jan. 17, the affidavit says Blanchard became upset at her when she received a Snapchat message from a male friend.

It says he picked her up, and “began tossing and shoving the applicant around the apartment, slamming her into the sofa, bed, and walls several times causing soreness in her entire body,” the affidavit says.

In November 2016, the affidavit says Blanchard became upset about a post made by the woman on Twitter.

It says he “grabbed both of (her) arms, backed her up roughly 10 feet, slammed her against the car, and threw her on the floor (similar to a football tackle).

On July 4, 2016, the affidavit says Blanchard became upset after the woman was having fun with some friends.

It says he “rushed the applicant, grabbed her by her wrists, began swearing and insulting her, and attempted to force himself and the applicant into her apartment.”

Friends tried to intervene but Blanchard became “increasingly violent”, and police were called, the affidavit says.

He continued to force her inside of her apartment in front of police, and let go only when “the police threatened him with an arrest for insubordination,” the affidavit says.

Besides the physical violence, the affidavit says Blanchard “controls many aspects of the applicant’s life”, including what she can wear, who she talks to, and what she posts on social media.

It also says Blanchard “damages the applicant’s property when she tries to break up with him, as well as place a joker card, otherwise known as the killer card, on her car."