Ray Rice, former NFL running back for the Baltimore Ravens, and his fiancé at the time, Janay Palmer (now wife), seemed to be in a heated argument on their way to the elevator at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City on Feb. 15, 2014.
The elevator doors closed behind them and when they reopened, Rice was captured by surveillance cameras dragging an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator.
Without knowing what exactly happened inside the elevator, Rice was issued a two-game suspension.
With this newly released shocking footage of what happened inside the elevator, it is clear that his punishment was extremely light and the NFL made a huge mistake.
When the elevator doors close, Rice clearly strikes first, and Palmer comes at him attempting to strike back and before she gets to him, Rice delivers the devastating punch to her head which causes her head to smash into the elevator wall before she falls to the floor completely unconscious. He then proceeds to drag her out of the elevator when the doors open.
Rice was supposed to be eligible to play after the week two game on Sept. 11 following his original punishment of a two week suspension. The public and NFL fans viewed the punishment as a slap on the wrist and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, was scrutinized for it.
CNN reported, Goodell admitted in a letter to all NFL team owners in August, “the league had fallen short of its goals in its handling of the Rice case: We allowed our standards to fall below where they should be and lost an important opportunity to emphasize our strong stance on a critical issue and the effective programs we have in place.”
“I didn’t get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will,” he added.
CNN reported that the NFL said Rice would not be persecuted because he had entered into a pretrial program in May after the incident, and through the program his charges would be expunged after one year.
In a press conference in July, Rice said that his actions were “inexcusable” and he and his wife are in counseling.
“We’re taking the necessary steps to move forward,” he said. “My job is to lead my family. My job is to lead my wife. My job is to lead in whatever I do. And If I’m not being the example, then my family crumbles.”
The following link to TMZ shows the brutal elevator attack: http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/08/ray-rice-elevator-knockout-fiancee-takes-crushing-punch-video/
