This is…disturbing
We’ve known pretty much all year that Ray Rice assaulted his wife in that Atlantic City elevator back in February. In fact, Rice was indicted by a grand jury in March. Still, the NFL turned a blind eye to the incident, only suspending Rice for 2 regular season games, in spite of the appalling footage of him dragging his unconscious wife out of the elevator.
Yesterday, TMZ stuck it to the NFL–though, technically, that wasn’t their intention–by releasing footage they acquired from the actual elevator camera, in which Ray Rice is seen getting in his wife’s face, punching her once, which pushed her back, and eventually landing a bruising knockout blow to her face. Janay Rice immediately fell out, unconscious, and to get out of the elevator she had to be dragged by Ray, until he eventually gave up and opted to let her regain her senses.
Goodell, who was criticized profusely for levying such an inconsequential punishment on Rice upon the release of the original footage 7 months ago, didn’t take this new evidence lightly, and banned Rice indefinitely from the NFL. Shortly before, the Baltimore Ravens, Rice’s team of the past 6 years, announced via their Twitter that they had terminated his contract–effective immediately.
Today, Janay Rice spoke out on the events of the past 36 hours via a long note posted to her Instagram account.
The most shocking thing you might read all day is the apparent statement from Ray Rice’s wife pic.twitter.com/ZmxOi5nBYI
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) September 9, 2014
