Video Shows Ray Rice Knocking Out Fiancee in Elevator

On Monday, TMZ released the surveillance video of what appears to be Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee and knocking her out cold in the elevator at an Atlantic City casino. 

The video shows what occurred before Rice dragged his then-fiancee Janay Palmer (Rice and Palmer have since married) out of the elevator when she unconscious. That video has been widely seen since the incident occurred in February.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice for two games and later admitted that he had made a mistake when Goodell announced the league’s new domestic abuse policies. The NFL will now suspended any player or employee for six games for the first offense. A second offense will constitute a lifetime ban. 

The video shows what appears to be Rice and Palmer arguing in the elevator before Rice delivers a left hook that knocks Palmer out. The NFL alleges it first saw the video on Monday though there were reports that the league and some Ravens officials had previously seen the video that was released on Monday, as MMQB’s Peter King noted in July:

There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée. I have heard reports of what is on the video, but because I could not confirm them and because of the sensitivity of the case, I never speculated on the video in my writing, because I don’t think it is fair in an incendiary case like this one to use something I cannot confirm with more than one person. I cannot say any more, because I did not see the tape. I saw only the damning tape of Rice pulling his unconscious fiancée out of the elevator.

UPDATE: The NFL released this statement: 

“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.”

In May, Rice apologized at a press conference and Palmer, who was with him, said, “I do deeply regret the role I played in the incident that night.” Rice opened his press conference in May with these boneheaded remarks that were widely criticized: “Failure is not getting knocked down, it’s not getting up.”