Ray Rice
(WJZ/CNN/RNN) – The NFL’s Baltimore Ravens announced Monday they would be terminating the contract of running back Ray Rice.
The Ravens organization made the announcement via Twitter. Minutes later, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello announced Rice had been suspended indefinitely “based on new video evidence that became available.”
The league initially responded to questions about the clip after its release, saying officials saw it for the first time Monday.
“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” an NFL representative stated. “That video was not made available to us, and no one in our office has seen it until (Monday).”
Following the hit, the video shows him drag her motionless body out of the elevator. Another surveillance video made public months ago showed another angle of Rice dragging her out.
Sources close the NFL have also said the league it won’t approve any contracts offered to Rice “until further direction” is given on his indefinite suspension.
He was originally suspended for two games by the league, including the Ravens home opener Sunday.
Critics called for Commissioner Roger Goodell to issue harsher punishment. A violation of the league’s substance abuse policy results in a four-game suspension for first-timers. Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon got a season-long suspension in 2014 for multiple violations.
In a press conference early Monday evening, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh spoke to the press for the first time since Rice’s release. He said there is “nothing but hope and goodwill for Ray” following the team letting him go.
Harbaugh said he hopes that Rice and his wife “make it work as a couple” and that he wishes the pair the best. Rice’s former coach said he had not seen the tape prior to its release by TMZ Sports, and would not elaborate on the team’s reactions to Rice’s release or the contents of the video.
“It [the tape] wasn’t something we saw; it wasn’t made available to us,” Harbaugh said.
But Harbaugh did say that viewing the tape “did make things different.”
Following Rice’s suspension, the NFL announced a stricter policy for all personnel – six games for a first domestic violence offense, an indefinite ban for a second.
Police arrested Rice and Palmer on simple assault charges after an incident at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, MD. Rice’s attorney described it as a “minor physical altercation.”
TMZ released video of Rice dragging Palmer’s body from the elevator Feb. 19.
On March 27, a grand jury indicted Rice on aggravated assault charges. The next day, Rice and Palmer were married.
Rice accepted probation and an anger management diversion program in lieu of jail time May 1. He made his first public statement on the incident on May 23.
Goodell announced the two-game suspension in July. A month later, he announced the new domestic violence policy as an offshoot of Rice’s incident.
The White House, through Press Secretary Josh Earnest, released a statement on Rice, saying: “The President is a father of two daughters. And like any American, he believes that domestic violence is contemptible and unacceptable in a civilized society. Hitting a woman is not something a real man does, and that’s true whether or not an act of violence happens in the public eye, or, far too often, behind closed doors. Stopping domestic violence is something that’s bigger than football – and all of us have a responsibility to put a stop to it.”
