Cut him. Do it now. If

, empty his locker and end his Boston Celtics career immediately. Get lost and good riddance.

Reading the details of how he allegedly strangled his girlfriend until she passed out during a four-hour incident in his apartment should make anyone angry.

If there's truth to the allegations, Bird is a bad guy. The faster he's gone the better. He didn't make a mistake, these were the actions of a monster. Get him off the team and out of the league.

That's the most common reaction and a well-intentioned one. A person who would do what Bird allegedly did doesn't deserve to be a professional athlete and all the money and perks that come with it. Certainly cutting him sends the message to other athletes: If you act like that, everything you worked for athletically will be taken away.

However, domestic violence experts say what sounds like an easy, straightforward call -- punishing a bad guy feels righteous -- it might not be the right thing to do and often puts the victim at even greater risk.

Losing an athletic career certainly is not too harsh a price to pay for a crime that despicable. But that often hurts the victim and, depending on the situation, their children, too.

In some cases the issue is financial. Given the time and travel demands on a professional athlete, many wives and girlfriends often give up their own careers to take care of the family. Depending on the situation, leaving an abusive athlete can create impossibly awful decisions and circumstances financially.

Worse, if an athlete is already prone to violent behavior, he'll often blame his wife/girlfriend for reporting his actions and the fact that he got cut because of it. That can put the victim at risk of further violence. The combination of those reasons could dissuade some victims from getting help.

Katie Hnida was the first woman to play Division I college football as a kicker at New Mexico. That triumph happened after she transferred out of the University of Colorado, where she'd been raped by a teammate. She now works as an anti-violence trainer working with teams and leagues in hopes of preventing domestic violence.

"It can be so dangerous for the woman. We don't want zero tolerance because it can end up putting a woman in danger," Hnida said late last month. "If suddenly their husband could lose his million-dollar-paying job, you might not have women who are willing to come forward. They're already worried about getting them in trouble."

Cindy Southworth, the executive vice president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, agreed.

"Holding offenders accountable is nuanced. I'm opposed to zero tolerance because philosophically, if a victim knows and the offender knows that the very first time the police are called, (the offender) loses (his) job immediately, the risk of her being killed is higher," Southworth said. "He's got a lot to lose and she's got a lot to lose. She knows if she calls, her livelihood, their mortgage, their children's college is at risk. I would much rather look at each situation and have a measured response."

Katherine Redmond, who founded the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes in 1997, sits on Major League Baseball's Domestic Violence policy board. She is also against a zero tolerance policy. If a player is cut after an incident, there's no structure in place to address that player's behavior. A suspended player can be compelled to seek treatment.

"When baseball hands down a suspension of 80 games or 50 games or whatever, the offender has steps they have to take," she said. "They have to go into counseling. MLB will talk to the counsellor. Is he cooperating with you? Has he missed appointments?"

Redmond pointed to Molly Brown, the abused ex-wife of former NFL kicker Josh Brown, as an example. Brown admitted to police, she'd been reluctant to report the abuse because of the financial impact on her family.

"Molly was very fearful of what the future would be like if Josh was cut from the team," King Count Sheriff's Det. Robin Ostrum wrote in a report published by Deadspin, "and how that would impact his ability to pay child support. ... Molly was afraid of it becoming a spectacle in the media and that Josh could (lose) his job."

Redmond suggested each league could create a fund, perhaps supported by fines and/or lost wages by disciplined players and donations by others. It would provide financial support for women trying to extricate themselves from abusive relationships with athletes.

"That's where there should be some kind of fund for victims to tap into," she said. "That was the concern for Molly Brown. What was she supposed to do? She didn't want him fired. She just wanted to be separated from him."

Without the financial intertwining of marriage and children -- Bird and his girlfriend do not live together -- this situation is different. But the nature of what he is accused of increased Southworth's concerns.

"Strangulation increases the risk of homicide by 10 times. Strangling a victim for hours on end is horrifying and very lethal. You can suffer brain damage. Often victims don't know how badly their bodies were impacted from the episode. We encourage victims to get medical treatment and get checked out," she said. "I'm still opposed to zero tolerance, but I would encourage the league to sanction this player with far more serious sanctions than they would for someone who punched or slapped a victim one time. Multiple strangulation is very different than a shove."

Southworth's numbers come from TheHotline.org, the website for the National Domestic Violence hotline (1-800-799-7233). It's page on strangulation emphasized the increased concern. Citing studies, it says that strangulation is "a significant predictor of future lethal violence," and "if your partner has strangled you in the past, your risk of being killed by them is 10 times higher."

Bird clearly needs to be monitored and his girlfriend protected as this gets sorted out.

If the Celtics cut Bird tomorrow, they'd be lauded for it, praised as a franchise that won't be associated with something like that. But waiting gives them options.

See what happens in court. It's possible Bird will get jail time which takes some of the decision out of Boston's hands. While the Celtics will make their own decision whether to cut him, the NBA handles all discipline for players deemed to be in violation of the league's domestic violence policy. The league has already said it's investigating. See what the court finds. See what the league finds.

It's worth getting every bit of information they can to make a decision that includes consideration for the long term safety of the victim. Based on the public statement the Celtics made already, they've set themselves up to do exactly that.

It's the right thing to do.