In the wake of Ray McDonald domestic violence investigation, San Jose Police Officers are being barred from working off duty for the San Francisco 49ers. According to NBC Bay Area, top police officials were reviewing the department's policy of "secondary employment" after finding out that a cop is at the scene before responding officers and investigators arrived to the alleged incident at McDonald's home.
Reportedly, Chief Larry Esquivel, said the department is suspending its relationship with the 49ers for the time being in an internal message to officers.
"Due to the complexities of the investigation, both criminally and administratively, we feel that it is in our best interest to suspend all San Francisco 49er secondary employment related assignments until further notice," Esquivel said in the memo. "As always, we will keep you informed to the extent possible as we move forward," he stated.
According to sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com, Sgt. Sean Pritchard, who was assigned to the gang-suppression unit and a member of the 49ers security, was the first police officer on the scene at the home of player Ray McDonald the night he was arrested for alleged domestic violence on his girlfriend.
Mercury News reported that Pritchard's presence at McDonald's home complicated the police investigation. A source said it was one reason it took a month to forward the case to District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office.
Reportedly, Assistant Chief Eddie Garcia told the newspaper that the SJPD veteran has been barred from any further work for the team pending an Internal Affairs inquiry into why Pritchard was present for the Aug. 31 police response that ended with McDonald's arrest.
"We suspended him working for that company because of that (public) trust," Garcia said. "We hold all our officers to a very high standard. We're getting all the facts as to why that individual officer was there. I certainly feel and have the utmost confidence that we would be able to investigate any situation without there being a conflict of interest."
