9-10-14 ray rice-local react

The Director of a Fond du Lac organization that serves domestic abuse victims says she hopes the NFL uses the Ray Rice incident to further educate their players and the public at large about the problem of domestic violence.  Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravenues and suspended indefinately by the NFL after a video released this week shows Rice punching his then fiance’e in an elevator.   Fond du lac Solutions Center director Maggie McCollough says  domestic violence is a  societal issue magnified in this case by the actions of an elite athlete.  McCollough says while she isn’t a legal expert she believes based on the latest video, Rice should be charged with aggravated domestic battery.  “The part that I always think about is that if he had gone up to a stranger on the street and done what the video now shows he did to his fiance’e there would be no question it was a criminal act on his part.  That’s assault and battery,”  McCollough told WFDL news.  At the same time McCollough says she is not surprised by Rice’s wife’s comments that she loves her husband and wishes the latest video footage had not been released.  “The depths of what’s going on in this relationship are something that is very difficult for people in the outside world that haven’t experienced domestic violence to understand.  This didn’t start in that elevator,” McCollough said.  McCollough says she also isn’t surprised that up until now the NFL did not have a domestic violence policy and the seemingly lack of understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence.