A flurry of evidence regarding the Ray Rice domestic violence case has made its way to the public over the past day and a half. After TMZ Sports released the video of Rice striking his then-fiancee in the face in at Atlantic City hotel elevator, more has come out of the messy situation.
First, the NFL said it requested all evidence pertinent to the case and was not granted access to the graphic video that was posted online yesterday by TMZ Sports. But TMZ Sports somehow obtained the video and the NFL was unable to. All that the public was able to see following the Feb. 15 incident between Rice and Janay Palmer was a video of him dragging an unconscious Palmer out of an elevator.
So now even more questions remain. The Baltimore Ravens and the NFL promptly acted on the situation once the video was made public, with the Ravens terminating Rice's contract with the team and the league suspending him indefinitely. But the only person who addressed the public regarding the situation was Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and not NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, Ravens president Dick Cass or Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome - all of whom are in a much higher position than Harbaugh and likely had a greater ability to handle the situation.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy issued a statement on Monday after the video was made public:
"We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today," via this ESPN article.
Now, according to TMZ, the NFL did not contact the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to obtain access to the video. The hotel previously made a copy of the tape for law enforcement, and sources also told TMZ that Rice's lawyers obtained a copy of it as well.
In response to the allegations, the NFL released another statement on Tuesday, saying, "Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey State Police. Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police," according to this ESPN article.
It was also reported this morning that the NFL only requested the video from law enforcement officials, thus reinforcing its failure of an effort to dig deeper and resolve the paramount issue.
During his press conference Monday night, John Harbaugh said, "I don't know why that would be a hard thing to understand. It wasn't available. It wasn't there for us. It wasn't something that we ever saw or had access to."
But now, the NFL and Ravens organization look as if they turned their shoulder to the situation with their vague excuses.
The Associated Press reported on Monday night that it has obtained a higher quality video from a law enforcement official that is slightly longer and provides audio. After it obtained the video, the AP released a statement as well:
"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."
And now Rice's wife is defending her husband and criticizing the media for their role in releasing the footage:
"I woke up this morning, feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend," Janay Rice wrote in an Instagram post. "But to have to accept the fact that it's reality is a nightmare itself. No one know the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is a horrible thing," she wrote on Tuesday morning, via this ESPN article. "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 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 happines away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know 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!"
It doesn't seem as if Ravensnation loves them back, because it was reported yesterday that Rice lost support from the team's locker room and players across the league criticized his actions. It was said his teammates felt they were lied to by the running back because he told them he had no choice but to defend himself on the night of Feb. 15, when the latest video mightily suggests otherwise.
And if the higher-quality video is eventually released to the public, the NFL, Baltimore Ravens and Ray Rice could be facing even more condemnation.
