John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time since alleging in November Sam Dyson was abusive toward her and her cat, the ex-girlfriend of the former Giants reliever has spoken publicly about her ordeal.
Alexis Blackburn, in an extensive piece by The Athletic, which included police interviews, that was published Tuesday, alleged Dyson had been abusive for years. An incident in which Blackburn says Dyson kicked a kennel that housed her cat and prompted surgery for the cat led to her going public because, she said, proof of violence against the feline would be taken seriously.
Included in the story are pictures of a bruised Blackburn, who alleged multiple incidents of physical violence by Dyson, whom she was frightened of partly because he owns firearms.
“I’m absolutely terrified of what he’s capable of doing,” Blackburn told police, according to The Athletic.
Blackburn said she was asked why she did not come forth sooner. In one phone call with the police in a prior incident, she said an officer told her she sounded like a “vindictive girlfriend.” Another officer, when she reported the violent incident involving the cat, said “it would be hard to prove but we would investigate.”
Of the incident with the cat, Dyson told police he could not remember if he made contact with Blackburn and said the cat was not in the kennel he kicked. He did admit he had a “verbally violent and toxic relationship” with Blackburn.
Dyson, whom the Giants traded to the Twins in July 2019 and then needed right shoulder surgery, has been rehabbing toward a potential return to baseball. A source told KNBR the MLB investigation into him is still ongoing and that he has cooperated with investigators.
Dyson had been a Giant since June 2017, when they traded for him from the Rangers, and Blackburn eventually sought help from Giants spouses. Blackburn did not know of the resources MLB offers through Futures Without Violence, a non-profit organization that helps with matters such as domestic violence. Women The Athletic talked to believed the information was either inaccessible or token.
“I went from Miami to Texas to San Francisco to Minnesota and never realized there were sanctioned people for each team to reach out to,” Blackburn said.
A wife of one of Dyson’s Giants teammates directed her toward help from MLB days before she went public on Instagram.