Former San Francisco 49er and current Chicago Bear Ray McDonald has been arrested – again – on domestic violence charges. Damian Trujillo, from NBC Bay Area, reported that two San Jose police sources have confirmed McDonald’s arrest.
Trujillo did not report on the exact nature or date of the incident; but he did mention the possibility of child endangerment in a Tweet he sent out this morning:
BREAKING. Deja Vu. Ray McDonald arrested again. Domestic Violence. Possible Child Endangerment. #SCPD. @ChicagoBearspic.twitter.com/nPFSjeS8ak
— Damian Trujillo (@newsdamian) May 25, 2015
McDonald’s arrest is very bad news for the Chicago Bears. New GM, 37-year old Ryan Pace, went out on a limb signing McDonald. Chairman George McCaskey went even further as he described the organization’s due diligence:
“It was a situation where I didn’t want to make an evaluation based on football ability,” McCaskey said. “I left that to the football experts. I just wanted to know do we feel comfortable if he becomes a Chicago Bear? And so I gave Ryan permission to pursue him as a free agent. After that, Ryan still has to make an evaluation with his staff on the football side taking into account the character issue.”
On August 31, 2014 The Sacramento Bee reported McDonald’s first domestic abuse arrest:
Police arrived at 2:48 a.m. at McDonald’s home, where a birthday party was being held. He turns 30 Tuesday.
McDonald apparently was involved in an altercation with his fiancee, who a police source said is 10 weeks pregnant. When she showed police minor bruises on her neck and arms, McDonald was arrested without incident.
McDonald was not charged with domestic violence in San Jose. In November of 2014 Santa Clara County prosecutors declined to press charges as reported by The San Jose Mercury News:
“All domestic violence complaints deserve our concern, sensitivity and careful review,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “After our thorough review of all the facts, we do not have evidence sufficient to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. McDonald committed a crime against Jane Doe.”
Prosecutors said the chief reasons for their decision were the “significant lack of cooperation” by the fiancée, conflicting accounts of what happened and lack of credible witnesses.
“Both parties agree that Jane Doe struck Ray McDonald first, and that her minor injuries are consistent with restraint rather than attack,” said Lindsay Walsh, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case.
McDonald was also involved in a sexual assault accusation for which charges are rumored to be dismissed. That incident occurred in December of 2014. The Sacramento Bee published these details regarding that incident:
“She (the accuser) asked him why he was lying to her and he said that he didn’t want to get accused of something crazy like rape. She stated that she had no recollection of having sex with (McDonald). She stated that she did not give (McDonald) consent to have sex with her,” a San Jose police officer wrote in the signed affidavit.
The sexual assault investigation was the tipping point for 49er GM Trent Baalke. San Francisco released McDonald shortly after the incident became public. “This isn’t about this one incident,” Baalke said at the time. “This is about a pattern. Once again, if this was one incident. we would be standing up here talking about due process like we have multiple times in multiple other situations. But this is just a pattern of decision-making that Ray has demonstrated over the period of time that, once again, it’s no longer going to be tolerated.”
The Ray McDonald saga is terrible news for Ray McDonald, his family, and the NFL. The league is still reeling from the Ray Rice video and the terrifying photos of Adrian Peterson’s beaten son. The mere mention of the terms “domestic violence” and “child endangerment” will ensure that the dark clouds of the NFL’s off-field problems will persist. The Chicago Bears organization has some serious questions to answer in their failure to heed Trent Baalke’s forebodings.
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