Here's The Disgusting Ray Rice Video The NFL Didn't Want Us To See
His lawyer says Rice could have won in court based on self-defense, but it would have been a loss in the court of public opinion.
6 years ago by Ed Scarce
As the saying goes, the chickens have come home to roost in the Ray Rice domestic abuse case as TMZ released the entire video to the public. As horrific as Rice's behavior was, the NFL then turned it into a media fiasco by only suspending Ray Rice two games for punching his then girlfriend's lights out, knocking her unconscious and in reality, almost killing her.
Initially, Commissioner Roger Goodell said this about Rice after he handed down a paltry two-game suspension for Rice's violence.
"I believe that you are sincere in your desire to learn from this matter and move forward toward a healthy relationship and successful career," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a letter to Rice, according to a statement from the league. "I am now focused on your actions and expect you to demonstrate by those actions that you are prepared to fulfill those expectations.
I responded to his ludicrous remarks like so:
Goodell suspends players for using performance enhancing drugs a minimum of four games, but punching his girlfriend's lights out only garners two? WTF? Talk about a "war on women" moment. How little does the NFL consider physical violence against women?
I was as shocked as anyone at Gooddell's decision to give Rice a slap on the wrist after Rice's girlfriend was almost killed. The NFL commissioner then dug himself into a deeper hole when he tried to justify his own actions:
We have to remain consistent," he said. "We can't just make up the discipline. It has to be consistent with other cases, and it was in this matter."
"You've got to deal with the facts, OK?" he said. "Now, when we have a drug program that's collectively bargained, and it has a step process, it takes four incidents before you actually reach a suspension in a drug-related case. So you have to respond to facts here."
What other cases was his decision based on to only suspend Ray Rice two games? How many other women have been savagely beaten by NFL players? In any other company in this country, Ray Rice would have been fired immediately for his actions and if Rice wasn't a star player he'd be in jail right now for what he did.
And then let us ask Ray Rice's attorney Michael Diamondstein, to explain why he said Rice would have won a court case if it went to trial? Blaming the victim was so easy for him.
What really happened inside that casino elevator? Ray Rice's lawyer suggests—through a hypothetical account—that the Ravens running back did not start the altercation with his wife.
"The video shows–hypothetically speaking, now, hypothetically speaking–shows that Ray wasn't the first person that hit and Ray was getting repeatedly hit, but just Ray hit harder, fired one back and hit harder," Diamondstein said.
I'm assuming he saw the video but thought nobody else would because his remarks make him a bald faced liar.
Prosecutor Jim McClain has a lot to answer for in Atlantic City also:
"This decision was arrived at after careful consideration of the information contained in Mr. Rice's application in light of all of the facts gathered during the investigation," acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain told the Press of Atlantic City.
"After considering all relevant information in light of applicable law, it was determined that this was the appropriate disposition."
Say what? How could that have ever been considered appropriate? If this was a TV show we'd be looking into his back accounts.
The NFL is a multibillion dollar corporation with as much power as any company and are we to believe that they never saw this video before? How is this possible? That's what the league told TMZ:
The NFL tells TMZ Sports ... league officials did NOT see the new Ray Rice elevator footage posted on TMZ Sports before it meted out a 2 game suspension.
A league spokesperson tells us ... "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."
We do not know if the NFL will seek to re-open it's investigation of the incident.
It's interesting the NFL says the police wouldn't give them the video ... but the league makes no mention of attempting the get the video from the casino itself.
With the power that the NFL wields, wouldn't they want to see this video before they made a ruling against one of their employees? They had to know it would eventually be released.
I'm also wondering how much pressure the Baltimore Ravens put on Goodell to be as lenient as possible in his punishment to their star running back?
This whole story is a nightmare.
domestic abuse, NFL, Ray Rice, TMZ video
Ray Rice Released By Ravens; Contract Terminated After New Video Surfaces
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By Ed Scarce
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