Report: Baltimore Ravens had video of Ray Rice assault since February
A damaging report from ESPN could result in sweeping changes in the Baltimore Ravens front-office.
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Hours after Ray Rice struck his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City casino elevator in mid-February, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh immediately wanted to release Rice, but the team owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome overruled the head coach.
To make matters worse, the Ravens brain trust was made well-aware of exactly what happened inside the elevator that night when the public could only see Rice dragging the unconscious body of his now-wife out of the elevator after a police lieutenant gave a detailed account of Rice punching Palmer in the face.
The Ravens are denying that Harbaugh wanted Rice cut, but the report continues that in April the Ravens were informed by Rice’s defense attorney, Michael J. Diamondstein, who had obtained a copy of what happened inside the elevator and told Cass: “It’s f—ing horrible and that it was clear “Ray knocked her the f— out.”
Still the Ravens did not release Rice and in fact asked NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for leniency when considering what form of discipline to hand to their six-year veteran.
Perhaps this is why Goodell only gave Rice a two-game suspension initially?
Goodell has come under fire for his mishandling of the Rice case and has many current and former players, media and fans calling for his resignation, but the Ravens coddled their star player and even undermined the team’s head coach in the process while protecting an abuser.
More details continue to emerge in this ugly story and it wasn’t until a public outcry forced the Ravens hand to release him more than five months after the assault when Harbaugh wanted him gone.
Meanwhile the Ravens have a mess on their hands and their continuing to get dirtier and dirtier as they shuffle through the mud.
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