Defensive tackle Ray McDonald was recently arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York said Tuesday that he will let ''due process take its course'' before deciding whether to discipline.
During his first ever public comment since McDonalds arrest, York talked to San Francisco's KNBR radio saying that he will not set punishment for McDonalds not until he sees "evidence that it should be done or before an entire legal police investigation shows us something."
He added "'I would much rather take shots at my reputation than to put somebody down and judge them before an entire investigation has taken place."
49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke had the same sentiments as York but he added that the team will not tolerate domestic violence. He will consider the arrest as serious but will not take action not until the investigation ends.
He said "I'm comfortable if my reputation is going to take shots throughout this process. But my character is I will not punish somebody until we see evidence that it should be done or before an entire legal police investigation shows us something."
McDonald practiced all of last week and started in San Francisco's 28-17 win at Dallas on Sunday.
The NFL has been plagued with domestic violence cases coming from their players. The public has been pressuring the team to suspend McDonalds after the issue of Ray Rice plagued social media and the internet.
But York stressed that the public shouldn't compare the case of McDonalds and Rice eventhough they were both arrested for domestic violence.
He said "Each case is its own separate case. Ray McDonald is not Ray Rice. And if there's another one, it's not the same as the previous. Each case is its own individual entity. And as a society, we have a sense of saying, 'Well, you didn't do it right with Ray Rice right away so you need to overdo it with Ray McDonald or whoever else it is.' And I don't believe that's the country that we live in. I don't think that's a fair way to approach it."
