BALTIMORE — Ray Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video was released showing the running back striking his then-fiancee in February. ADVERTISING BALTIMORE — Ray Rice was let
BALTIMORE — Ray Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video was released showing the running back striking his then-fiancee in February.
The grainy video, released by TMZ Sports, shows Rice and Janay Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. Months ago, a TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed Sept. 2.
Earlier Monday, the Ravens said they never saw the new video. Hours later, they sent out a one-sentence release:
“The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon.”
Coach John Harbaugh said he met with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome after they saw the video, and they made the decision to let Rice go.
“It’s something we saw for the first time today, all of us,” Harbaugh said. “It changed things, of course. It made things a little bit different.”
The action represented a complete reversal for the team, even though an Atlantic City police summons stated that Rice caused “bodily injury to Janay Palmer, specifically by striking her with his hand, rendering her unconscious.”
The Ravens had used words like “respect” and “proud” in referring to Rice following his arrest.
When the NFL announced Rice’s two-game suspension for domestic violence on July 24, Newsome said: “We respect the efforts Ray has made to become the best partner and father he can be. That night was not typical of the Ray Rice we know and respect. We believe that he will not let that one night define who he is, and he is determined to make sure something like this never happens again.”
In late July, Harbaugh said, “The thing I appreciate about it is how Ray has handled it afterward by acknowledging it was wrong and he’ll do everything he can do to make it right. That’s what you ask for when someone does a wrong thing. So, I’m proud of him for that.”
Asked Monday night if Rice misled him, Harbaugh said he didn’t want to get into “all that.”
“I don’t think of it that way. Everything I said in terms of what I believe, I stand by,” he said. “I believe that still, and I’ll always believe those things, and (we’ll) always stand in support of them as a couple, and that’s not going to change.”
Rice said in a news conference this summer that his actions that night were “inexcusable.” But the Ravens never took action against him until after the second video was released.
The NFL, which has been working hard to promote the game to women, also took action after the explicit video was released. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that, based on the new video evidence, Rice has been suspended indefinitely.
