Ray Rice has been cut from the Baltimore Ravens after they terminated his contract following the Monday release of video that showed him savagely punching his fiancée in the face, knocking her unconscious. Rice is currently suspended from the NFL as well.
Previously, Rice had been suspended for two games as a result of video being released from TMZ that showed Rice dragging his unconscious fiancée from an Atlantic City casino elevator. No one was pleased with the National Football League’s response to Rice’s brutality as players faced harsher penalties for smoking pot than they did for beating their significant other.
The event transpired in February of this year and the footage is available to watch via TMZ. Be warned, the video shows Ray Rice hitting his fiancée twice and the second blow knocks her unconscious.
The NFL claims that it had not seen the video until after it had been released by TMZ.
“We requested from law enforcement and and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” said the NFL. “That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.
The NFL wasn’t capable of obtaining surveillance footage from an Atlantic City casino that a gossip blog was able to get. So they were either too incompetent or too apathetic to properly investigate the matter. I’m not sure which is worse.
What is clear is that the NFL is not a leader. The NFL will not set an example and stand on principle that it didn’t matter what the video showed happened in the elevator. When Ray Rice was exposed as the violent man that he is, he should have been cut right then and there.
End of story.
Joshua is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow him on Twitter @Joshual33.