Roger Goodell says NFL didn't see video before this week; Ray Rice responds to coverage
BALTIMORE (WABC) -- As questions arose about how the NFL investigated domestic violence allegations against Ray Rice, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday the league asked for, but was not given, video showing the ex-Ravens running back punching his then-fiancee on an elevator.
Goodell told CBS that "no one in the NFL, to my knowledge" had seen a new video of what happened on the elevator until it was posted online.
"We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity," Goodell said.
Two videos, one released by TMZ Sports and another shown later to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official, show Rice punching Janay Palmer - who is now his wife - at an Atlantic City casino in February. They are graphic, and show more detail than an initial video released by TMZ in July that showed him dragging her from an elevator.
After the latest TMZ video made its way around the Internet, the Ravens cut Rice and the league barred him indefinitely. But the video renewed criticism about the NFL's decision to initially suspend Rice for just two games, and raised questions about how strenuously the case was investigated.
Janay Rice has responded to the NFL's indefinite suspension of the former Baltimore Ravens running back, the team's decision to release him and the media coverage given to the Atlantic City elevator assault that was caught on camera.
She posted the following message on Instagram:
"I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of the my closest friend. But to have to accept the fact that it's reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public have caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is a horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don't you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!"
Janay Rice listens as Ray Rice speaks during a news conference on May 23, 2014, at the team's practice facility
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The videos show Rice and Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. Months ago, a TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed on Sept. 2.
The higher-quality video shown to the AP shows Rice made no attempt to cover up the incident. After Palmer collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, "She's drunk, right?" And then, "No cops." But Rice didn't respond.
The video was shown to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official isn't authorized to release it.
The graphic video, obtained by TMZ, shows Rice striking Palmer, knocking her to the ground of an Atlantic City casino elevator. Previously released video from the February incident had shown Rice dragging Palmer out of the elevator.
A Revel spokesman told ABC News that the casino did make a copy of the elevator surveillance video for police.
Late Tuesday morning, the NFL issued a new statement about the handling of the investigation and why no one from the NFL had seen the video: "We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including any video that may exist. We spoke to members of the New Jersey State Police and reached out multiple times to the Atlantic City Police Department and the Atlantic County prosecutor's office. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office saw it until yesterday."
An earlier statement had said security for Atlantic City casinos was handled by the New Jersey State Police, but the New Jersey State Police said it did not handle this case.
"Investigations of incidents on the casino floor are handled by the NJSP, but this occurred in the elevator and was handled by the (Atlantic City Police Department)," an NJSP spokesman said. "We never had the video."
Regarding the NFL's request for video, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Attorney General said "It's grand jury material. It would have been improper - in fact, illegal - for the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office to provide it to an outside / private / non law-enforcement entity."
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney on Tuesday called on the acting attorney general to review the decision-making process by the Atlantic County prosecutor.
"This video and the violence it shows is extremely disturbing. ... I am asking Acting Attorney General John Hoffman to review the decision-making process that allowed for Pre-Trial Intervention and to look at the law itself to see if it should be re-written or revised. This should include a review of who qualifies for PTI and when it is allowed.
Rice broke his silence Tuesday, telling ESPN "I have to stay strong for my wife."
The Baltimore Ravens announced on Tuesday that the team will offer fans the opportunity to exchange their Ray Rice jerseys at its stadium stores. The team hasn't announced further details, so it's not clear the terms of the exchange and how fans will be rebated.
Also on Tuesday, Nike said it had severed its endorsement deal with Rice, and Electronic Arts released a statement reading, "With Ray Rice's indefinite suspension from the NFL, he will be removed from Madden NFL 15. This roster change will take place by this Friday."
On Monday, Coach John Harbaugh said he met with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome after they saw the TMZ video, and they made the decision to let Rice go.
"It's something we saw for the first time today, all of us," Harbaugh said. "It changed things, of course. It made things a little bit different."
The action represented a complete reversal for the team, even though an Atlantic City police summons stated that Rice caused "bodily injury to Janay Palmer, specifically by striking her with his hand, rendering her unconscious."
The Ravens had used words like "respect" and "proud" in referring to Rice following his arrest.
In a letter from Bisciotti to a series of stakeholders said that "you deserve an explanation ... as a "PSL holder, suite owner, sponsor and supporter."
It offered a description of how the situation happened, saying that the decision "to let Ray Rice go was unanimous. Seeing that video changed everything. We should have seen it earlier. We should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously. We didn't and we were wrong."
When the NFL announced Rice's two-game suspension for domestic violence on July 24, Newsome said: "We respect the efforts Ray has made to become the best partner and father he can be. That night was not typical of the Ray Rice we know and respect. We believe that he will not let that one night define who he is, and he is determined to make sure something like this never happens again.
Asked Monday night if Rice misled him, Harbaugh said he didn't want to get into "all that."
"I don't think of it that way. Everything I said in terms of what I believe, I stand by," he said. "I believe that still, and I'll always believe those things, and (we'll) always stand in support of them as a couple, and that's not going to change."
Rice said in a news conference this summer that his actions that night were "inexcusable." But the Ravens never took action against him until after the second video was released.
The NFL, which has been working hard to promote the game to women, also took action after the explicit video was released. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that, based on the new video evidence, Rice has been suspended indefinitely.
"We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday morning. "That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today."
Rice's lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
Rice, 27, stood to make $4 million this year.
"Obviously, any video that depicts an act of violence in that video is disturbing to watch. For our union, we have an unshakable position against any violence, certainly domestic violence included," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said at the Seahawks' facility in Renton, Washington. "It will be a time for us now to catch up with everything else that has occurred today."
He had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record.
After Goodell drew criticism not being tough enough on Rice, he wrote a letter to all 32 NFL owners in August saying he "didn't get it right."
First-time offenders now face a six-game suspension.
Rice began his suspension Sunday, when the Ravens opened their season with a 23-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was scheduled to return after Thursday night's game against Pittsburgh.
He leaves the Ravens as the second-leading rusher in franchise history, behind only Jamal Lewis. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Rice is the team's career leader in total yards from scrimmage (9,214) and is the only player in Ravens history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons.
But those are mere numbers, and his actions in that elevator shed a new light on him.
"I'm not going to go into what he told us or anything or if it matches or if it doesn't," Ravens receiver Torrey Smith said. "That doesn't matter. What matters is what you see. It wasn't a pleasant site at all."
Rice hasn't spoken often to the media since his arrest, but on July 31 he said this is "something I have to live with the rest of my life."
He added: "I know that's not who I am as a man. ... I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can't take back."
Celebrities shared their reactions to this latest video and the fallout.
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(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
