https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WKJwinYHFo
‘I made the biggest mistake of my life’
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice apologized for the first time to his wife, Janay Rice, on Thursday, at a press conference regarding the domestic violence incident that occurred in February.
Rice allegedly struck his then fiancée unconscious while in a casino elevator in Atlantic City. He was caught on camera dragging her out of the elevator.
However, Rice admitted he made the biggest mistake of his life.
I just don’t want to keep reliving the incident. It doesn’t bring any good to me. I’m just trying to move forward from it. I don’t condone it. I take full responsibility for my actions. What happened that night is something that I’m going to pay for the rest of my life.
Rice was suspended for two games by the NFL last Thursday and was fined a total of $529,411.24, which is the combined total of two game checks for this year and one check from last season according to ESPN.
Furthermore, here is a short excerpt of Rice’s apology speech from the press conference on Thursday:
My actions that night were totally inexcusable. That night I replay over and over in my head. That’s not me. My actions were inexcusable. That’s something I have to live with the rest of my life. The pain I’m talking about living with is that, is waking up every day, and my daughter is 2 years old now, I have a little girl who’s very smart, very intelligent. And one day she’s gonna know the power of Google. And we have to explain that to her—what happened that night. And I know that’s not who I am as a man.
That’s not who my mom raised me to be. Anybody knows me and knows me, they know I was raised by a single parent and that was my mother. And sitting here today and replay the things my mom raised me to be. I let her down, I let my wife down, I let my daughter down, I let my wife’s parents down, I let the whole Baltimore community down, and I got my teammates here to support me and I let my teammates down, you know, I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.
Rice’s wife, Janay, stood in a balcony overlooking the news conference which included reporters, Raven staffers and about 30 teammates such as wide receivers Steve Smith and Jacoby Jones, tight end Dennis Pitta, running back Bernard Pierce and kicker Justin Tucker.
Though Rice never looked up at Janay, it was evident he was extremely sorry.
“My wife can do no wrong,” he said Thursday. “She’s an angel.”
Sherley Boursiquot—@sherleybee_
