Baylor OL Rami Hammad accused of stalking former girlfriend

— -- Baylor offensive lineman Rami Hammad is facing felony stalking charges after his former girlfriend reported several instances in which he tracked her down, harassed her and twice physically assaulted her, including once at Baylor's athletic facilities on campus.

On July 7, the former girlfriend noticed Hammad waiting for her after class. She asked for help from the professor, who took the woman into her office, and Hammad "began continually knocking on the door," according to the arrest affidavit. The professor first tried to call Hammad's coaches, but when no one in the athletic department was available, she placed a call to Baylor police.

Baylor officials would not provide details on this particular professor but said that all faculty receive Title IX training and that when made aware of an incident, they are to "first ensure the safety of the student and then report behavior violating the policy to the Title IX office."

Hammad, a 21-year-old junior from Irving, Texas, is out on bond after he was arrested Monday and booked into McLennan County Jail on a third-degree felony stalking charge. He has been suspended from all team activities associated with Baylor football, pending resolution of this issue, Baylor officials announced Tuesday.

The university offered no further comment, citing federal privacy laws. Federal law allows schools to disclose publicly whether a student has been found guilty in a school disciplinary proceeding of any crime of violence or sex offense.

According to the affidavit, police made contact with Hammad on July 7 at the professor's office, and investigators spoke to him again on July 11. On both occasions, he was ordered to stay away from the woman, but he was not arrested.

At the time, Hammad admitted to police that he had been trying to find the woman by going to her apartment, checking local hotels and even driving through parking lots that she might frequent. Hammad told police that he "just wanted to talk to the victim in an attempt to mend their troubled relationship."

The woman told police that she had taken extensive measures to keep him from finding her, including driving a different vehicle and subleasing a home in Waco that she said he didn't know about.

After the incident at the classroom, the woman reported that on three separate occasions -- July 12, July 13 and July 26 -- Hammad tried to contact her through mutual friends, and he once had a special meal from a restaurant he knew she liked sent to her home. After the last incident, the report states, she "was no longer comfortable living in Waco" and moved back to her hometown out-of-state.

Hammad's ex-girlfriend also detailed incidents that started several months ago. She said Hammad physically assaulted her twice: once on March 15 at his home, where he placed his hand on her throat and held her against a wall during an argument, and once on June 13, when the two were outside a Baylor practice facility on campus and he grabbed her by the arms and pushed her against a wall. 

It's unclear whether the woman reported Hammad to Baylor officials before the July 7 incident and if the university had started a Title IX investigation.

The woman said she ended the relationship in May, but Hammad was "a manipulative individual and was very persuasive in his attempts to mend the relationship." She said Hammad would place multiple calls and text messages to her phone, and when she blocked his number, his friends started calling her on his behalf. According to the affidavit, during Hammad's pleas to the woman for forgiveness, he would talk of suicide, and the woman said she felt she needed to see or speak to him many times to keep him from harming himself. She said she tried to get help for him through Baylor's counseling center, but he would not agree to see the counselors on a regular basis.

It's unclear why Baylor police did not arrest Hammad until Monday, and Baylor police officials did not return calls for comment Tuesday. Hammad did not respond to messages left Tuesday.

If Hammad is indicted, he would be the fourth Baylor football player charged with crimes against women in the past four years. He is now one of many named in police reports alleging domestic violence or harassment. Former defensive end Shawn Oakman was indicted on charges of second-degree felony sexual assault last month.

Defensive ends Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu were convicted of sexual assault in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Baylor has been under fire for its handling of reports of sexual assault and violence involving football players for the past year. In late May, after the board of regents received a presentation from law firm Pepper Hamilton, whom it had hired to review the school's sexual assault response and Title IX practices, the regents announced the demotion of president Ken Starr to chancellor, the suspension with intent to terminate of football coach Art Briles and probation for athletic director Ian McCaw. Within weeks, McCaw resigned, Briles was fired, and Starr stepped down from all leadership positions at Baylor but stayed on as a law professor.

Last month at Big 12 media days, acting head coach Jim Grobe told the press, "We don't have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University. The problems that we're dealing with at Baylor and have dealt with at Baylor, to this point, are problems that are probably at every university in the country."

After his comment sparked some outrage on social media, he later said that he was referring to the players on the roster, not the former players accused of sexual assault and other acts of violence.