The Baltimore Ravens knew that there was a casino surveillance video showing Ray Rice’s assault on his then-fiancee Janay Palmer soon after the incident happened on Feb. 15, according to a report from ABC News. Team officials also reportedly knew that Rice’s attorney had a copy of the tape, but the team officials did not ask the attorney to show it to them.
Ravens reportedly knew Ray Rice’s lawyer had video, did nothing
According to a new report, the attorney for Ray Rice offered the Baltimore Ravens the opportunity to view the video of the running back striking his wife, but the team declined.
ABC spoke with two sources who claimed that Rice’s attorney requested and received the full video of the incident from the casino after TMZ released the first one showing Janay being dragged out of the elevator. The team also asked the Revel casino for the tape. The casino declined the team’s request, citing legal restrictions about who they could share the video with. The casino reportedly did tell the Ravens that Rice’s lawyer had been given a copy of the tape and to ask him to see it.
The Ravens responded to the ABC report, telling Albert Breer of the NFL Network that the team did ask Rice’s lawyer for the video, but he did not have it.
Ravens statement on the ABC News report: "We asked the lawyer. He said he didn't have it at that time, but that he had seen it."
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 10, 2014 Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said in a letter to season ticket holders that the team was not aware of the video until TMZ released the first one in February.
Bisciotti also said that the team had asked the casino and law enforcement agencies to see the video. Bisciotti also admitted that the Ravens stopped asking for video of the incident after Rice was indicted in March.
In March, the prosecutor dropped the case against Janay, but elevated the charge against Ray from simple assault to aggravated assault. At this point, we decided to defer action until completion of the court proceedings. We stopped seeking to view or obtain a copy of the video. We halted our fact-finding. That was a mistake on our part.
Another report from The Associated Press states that law enforcement sent the video to the NFL back in April. That report sources a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number confirming receipt and stating, “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
An NFL spokesman refuted the AP report in a short statement:
Statement from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello on AP report: "We have no knowledge of this. We are not aware of anyone in our office ..."
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 10, 2014 "... who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it."
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 10, 2014 Both the Ravens and the NFL claimed that they did not see the video of Rice punching his fiancee in the elevator until TMZ released the video on Monday. Rice was released by the team and suspended indefinitely hours after the second video emerged.
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