

(L.M. Otero / AP)

The San Francisco 49ers continue to let due process play out before determining the fate of defensive lineman Ray McDonald, who was arrested Aug. 31 on suspicion of felony domestic violence.

”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 chief executive officer Jed York said in an interview with KNBR. ”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, the first player arrested since Commissioner Roger Goodell instituted a tough new policy on domestic violence, was arrested when police were summoned to his 30th birthday party and they found the alleged victim, his pregnant fiancee, with “visible injuries.” McDonald played Sunday in the 49ers’ victory over Dallas as Coach Jim Harbaugh echoed York’s stance. Although Rice was suspended indefinitely by the league and cut by the Ravens on Monday, York is exercising caution about lumping the two players together.

”Each case is its own separate case. Ray McDonald is not Ray Rice,” York said. ”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.”