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Longer Video Shows Ray Rice, Janay Palmer Swearing, Spitting Before Physical Violence
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 9, 2014
Modified Sep 9, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 9, 2014
Modified Sep 9, 2014
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In the wake of the awful video showing NFL running back Ray Rice punching his now-wife in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino, his victim, Janay Rice, spoke out on Instagram, blaming the media and public: "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!"
The Baltimore Ravens terminated Rice's contract with the team, and the NFL has suspended him indefinitely. The NFL originally just suspended Rice for two games, for the February 15 incident at the Revel Casino, but at the time, the only video that emerged (publicly) was of Rice dragging his then-fiancee's apparently unconscious body out of the elevator.
The AP saw a longer version of the new video:
Ray Rice and then-fiance Janay Palmer can be heard shouting obscenities at each other. She appears to spit in the face of the three-time Pro Bowl running back right before he throws the knockout punch. The video, shown to the AP Monday night by a law enforcement official, includes audio and is longer than the grainy TMZ Sports video released earlier that day....
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 NFL claimed it never saw the video inside the elevator. TMZ reports, "Sources connected with the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City tell TMZ Sports ... NO ONE from the NFL ever asked for the video inside the elevator ... video that was compelling enough to get Rice instantly fired. Sources who worked at the casino at the time of the incident tell us ... if the NFL had asked for the video, they would have gladly complied. Former employees have told us someone with an affiliation to the NFL saw the video, but we are now certain that someone was not from Goodell's office or the core NFL executives."
TMZ also says that the casino made copies of the video for Rice's lawyer and the police. Atlantic County prosecutor James McClain's office also decided to accept a not guilty plea to the aggravated assault charges, with Rice entering a pretrial intervention program. (If he completes the program successfully, charges are dropped.) Back in May, an assistant prosecutor said there were other videos and "The victim's input is considered."
However, Sports Illustrated points out, "A victim testifying is not essential to a domestic violence prosecution, particularly one in which a video captured at least part of the incident, but it is advantageous to prosecutors in convincing jurors." As the NY Post's Mike Vaccaro wrote, "Why in the world would the NFL — whose security employees have all previously worked in the big leagues of federal and international law enforcement — not have demanded seeing what it had to know was a smoking gun, one way or the other, before rendering any kind of judgment?"
Tagged
Baltimore Ravens
domestic violence
Janay Palmer
nfl
ray rice
revel casino
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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