Jim Harbaugh withholding judgment on Ray McDonald incident
San Francisco’s coach continues to state he will not have players on his team who violate the domestic abuse policy, with one caveat related to the Ray McDonald incident.
Bob Levey
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh has previously stated he will not tolerate domestic violence from his players. He stood by those comments in the wake of 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald allegedly assaulting his pregnant fiancee, according to Cam Inman and Ann Killion.
Harbaugh reiterates his stand on KNBR that he and the 49ers "don't tolerate domestic violence." Says would not want violator on his team.
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) September 2, 2014 Harbaugh added one caveat to that: he believes in due process, suggesting that McDonald’s situation will have to play out with the authorities and the court system before any measure is taken by the team (shared by the coach during a KNBR radio segment).
“There’s going to be two principles at play here,” Harbaugh said on his radio show. “One is, I’ll speak for myself and I’ll speak for the 49ers, we’ll not tolerate domestic violence.
“The second principle is going to be: we’re firm believers in due process, and I ask for your understanding in those two principles.”
However, the NFL does not need to wait until the law makes a ruling. Commissioner Roger Goodell can suspend McDonald without legal ruling. According to the league’s personal conduct policy, if the incident poses “immediate and substantial risk to the integrity and reputation of the NFL.”
Last week, the NFL enacted a new domestic abuse policy which punished first-time offenders with an automatic six-game suspension and a lifetime ban for a second offense. The new policy left room for the commissioner to adjust the length of the suspensions depending on the circumstances.
The 49ers are already without starting nose tackle Glenn Dorsey and inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman due to injury, and outside linebacker Aldon Smith who is serving a nine-game suspension starting this Sunday.
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