In the wake of well-deserved criticism for suspending Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice only two games for beating his then-fiancee, the NFL announced a much stricter policy on domestic violence. Anyone affiliated with an NFL team who commits an act of domestic violence will face at least a six-game suspension for a first offense. A second offense would mean a lifetime ban, with no requests for reinstatement to be entertained for at least one year. Well, this story has taken a new turn. On Monday, hours after a horrific video surfaced of Rice knocking Janay Palmer — now Janay Rice — unconscious in February, the NFL extended Rice’s suspension indefinitely.
Early Monday morning, TMZ released closed-circuit footage showing Rice and Palmer getting into a heated argument in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City. Roughly 25 seconds into the video, Rice is seen punching Janay in the face. Janay hit Rice back and rushed at him. Rice then knocked Janay off her feet with a roundhouse left. Janay’s head hit the handrail, knocking her out. Later, Rice is seen dragging Janay out of the elevator. Janay comes to while Rice is talking to a security guard. Watch the full video here, or a cleaner version here. According to Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, Rice had maintained that Janay attacked him first, and he was only defending himself. That claim has now been exposed as a transparent lie.
On Monday afternoon, the Ravens issued a terse one-sentence statement saying that they had terminated Rice’s contract. The Ravens had initially deferred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell regarding discipline for Rice. However, according to WBAL-TV in Baltimore, when Ravens owner Steve Bischotti saw the video for the first time on Monday morning, he drove to the team’s training facility in Owings Mills — something he doesn’t usually do on Mondays — and called a meeting with team President Dick Cass, Vice President Kevin Byrne, General Manager Ozzie Newsome and Head Coach John Harbaugh. They quickly agreed that Rice had to go.? Less than half an hour after the Ravens announced they had unloaded Rice, NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello announced that based on the information on the video, Goodell had extended Rice’s suspension indefinitely.
Rice was originally due to return for the Ravens’ third game against the Cleveland Browns, but it’s safe to say that he won’t be playing a meaningful down anywhere anytime soon. Combine the public black eye the league took as a result of Rice’s insultingly short suspension with the horribly graphic nature of the footage and it’s hard to believe any owner with even a smidgen of decency would allow Rice to represent his team.? Fleeing north of the border isn’t an option; the Canadian Football League announced that Rice won’t be allowed to sign with a CFL team while he is suspended.
Rice doesn’t need to be the only one on the Ravens who should pay with his job for this. A day before a press conference at which Rice publicly apologized for his actions, the Ravens tweeted that Janay “regrets the role she played” in the February incident. Even without this video being released, that tweet was absolutely disgusting. It was deleted shortly after the Ravens cut ties with Rice. Bischotti needs to personally apologize for this hurtful and grossly inappropriate tweet — and fire whoever wrote it.
The NFL says that it didn’t see this video until today; it claims that all previous attempts to get it from law enforcement were unsuccessful. However, according to Deadspin’s Barry Pechetsky, several top NFL reporters were told privately after the video surfaced in July that NFL officials had seen the video and that it showed Janay was acting violently toward Rice. This has led to claims that the NFL may have known about the video all along. To my mind, though, it’s too early to get the pitchforks out. After all, it is entirely plausible that the NFL didn’t know about this particular footage. Prosecutors may have refused to give it to Goodell under the pretense that they were still conducting their own investigation. If it does turn out that the NFL knew about this video sooner than today, however, then heads need to roll — including Goodell’s.
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Edited by D.H.
Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC at Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
