Law Enforcement claims they sent Ray Rice vid to NFL in April

[Archie F. Swin]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-ne...video-sent-nfl

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn't see the violent images until this week.

The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: "You're right. It's terrible."

The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can't confirm anyone watched the video. The person said they were unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because they wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice's punishment.

The NFL has repeatedly said it asked for but could not obtain the video of Rice hitting Janay Palmer — who is now his wife — at an Atlantic City casino in February.

The league says it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until TMZ released it. When asked about the voicemail Wednesday, NFL officials repeated their assertion that no league official had seen the video before Monday.

The person said he sent a DVD copy of the security camera video to an NFL office and included his contact information. He asked the AP not to release the name of the NFL executive, for fear that the information would identify the law enforcement official as the source.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games following the February incident, but the Ravens released Rice on Monday and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after the website TMZ released the video.

Goodell told CBS on Tuesday that "no one in the NFL, to my knowledge" had seen a new video of what happened on the elevator until it was posted online.

"We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity," Goodell said.

In a memo to the NFL's 32 teams on Wednesday, Goodell said that the league asked law enforcement for the video, but not the casino. "In the context of a criminal investigation, information obtained outside of law enforcement that has not been tested by prosecutors or by the court system is not necessarily a reliable basis for imposing league discipline," he wrote.

The video, shown to the AP on Monday, is slightly longer than the TMZ version, and includes some audio.

Rice and Janay Palmer — now Janay Rice — can be heard shouting obscenities at each other, and she appears to spit at Rice right before he throws a brutal punch. After she collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, "She's drunk, right?" And then, "No cops."

Rice had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record. A prominent New Jersey lawmaker called Tuesday for that decision to be reviewed.

Hours after portions of the video were made public by TMZ, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely and Baltimore terminated his contract. He had originally been suspended for two games, and team officials had praised him for his apologies and actions after his arrest for aggravated assault.

Goodell and team officials said they were taking more severe action because of the violence in the video.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Unsmooth-Moment

Because he wasn't suspended for pulling her out of an elevator. He assaulted her. The difference is he was punished already for what had happened in video 2. Regardless of if the public saw it or if it was a strict enough punishment to begin with.

if he gets longer than a 2 or 6 game suspension this year then he would have a good case to sue the nfl because this is allegedly his first offense. Domestic abuse in a private home, with no camera, isn't better than doing it on camera.

This isn't a court of law. There is no double jeporady. This is a private business that relies on the public to purchase their product. 50% of their business is women. Everyone has a mom, sister or wife/GF.

People were upset at the punishment. Then the indifference shocked people. The PR machine was initiated. I'm not saying everything is kosher. All I'm saying that after the 2nd video became public, people became more upset than the first video. They have to do something. Back to the point, they rely on the public and the public is upset.

[In58men]

[Dayze]

Damn.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I saw the interview with Jon Harbaugh, and it was funny how he'd been prepared by the NFL. Right off the bat, he put in an extremely obvious, "It was the first time we had seen this ..." addition onto his response that was completely extraneous to the question. It was obvious that he had orders to say that, and he intentionally did it early to make sure he got it done.

EXACTLY!! I thought the same thing immediately when I saw it. You could tell everyone involved who did any interviews was coached up on the "first time we saw it" talking-point. Now I see the FBI will investigate, which is about as credible as having the KKK investigate the Nazis.

[Dayze]

ESPN: Coach, how do you think your team is handling the QB / Center exchange?

Harbaugh: "it's the first time we had seen this......wait, what was the question"....

[mdchiefsfan]

Dance puppets, dance!!


I am sure this was the contingency plan if it were to get leaked; we are just watching the play unfold.

[BlackOp]

This whole situation is getting more and more annoying...they have been together for 10 years. He went into counseling, lost endorsements/millions and was publicly humiliated BEFORE that parasitic TMZ cancer used it to exploit for their own profit. Isn't that what one would hope would happen...admit there is a problem and take steps to correct it. Is the concept of redemption dead..people **** up.

It appears to me..that they were on their way to learn from it. I mean..she married him after the incident. Her father forgave him..and he showed remorse. From what I can tell...that is what you do when something like this happens..fix it...and move on with your life. reeruns on the internet wont leave them alone...its a pile on from a bunch of no-life PC correct drone assholes...that turn a blind eye to their own short comings. No one knows these people on an individual basis...

They want to cheer for a violent, barbaric sport....the irony is rich...in all of its glorious digital detachment.

The more this shitstorm unfolds...the more Rice is starting to look like a victim of the NFL PR profit machine. Its amazing to watch these roaches squirm when the light is shown on them. Rice ****ed up..but that's between he and his wife..and they were moving to correct it on a personal level. He paid the price....this is getting over-the top though. Its layer after layer of complete horseshit...

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by BlackOp

This whole situation is getting more and more annoying...they have been together for 10 years. He went into counseling, lost endorsements/millions and was publicly humiliated BEFORE that parasitic TMZ cancer used it to exploit for their own profit. Isn't that what one would hope would happen...admit there is a problem and take steps to correct it. Is the concept of redemption dead..people **** up.

It appears to me..that they were on their way to learn from it. I mean..she married him after the incident. Her father forgave him..and he showed remorse. From what I can tell...that is what you do when something like this happens..fix it...and move on with your life. reeruns on the internet wont leave them alone...its a pile on from a bunch of no-life PC correct drone assholes...that turn a blind eye to their own short comings. No one knows these people on an individual basis...

They want to cheer for a violent, barbaric sport....the irony is rich...in all of its glorious digital detachment.

First of all, I complete agree with your post and repped you for it, but the fury here, I believe, lies with the NFLs handling of the situation, not with Rice.

[BlackOp]

Originally Posted by mdchiefsfan

First of all, I complete agree with your post and repped you for it, but the fury here, I believe, lies with the NFLs handling of the situation, not with Rice.

They are making Rice a fall guy...they ****ing knew. It makes it even more insidious... to ruin the guys life/family after the fact to deflect blame. What was Rice supposed to do...ban himself for 8 games? These people suck..and are horrible human beings.

What I think happened was Goddell got wind of the potential for the video to be leaked. That is why he made the statement that they were "too light" on Rice and changed the policy. This was before TMZ aired it..it was preemptive damage control. His lying ass is caught in the cross-hairs...he's a sociopath.

He and the Ravens are caught straight up lying...and it gets even dirtier by crucifying Rice for their manipulative profit driven bullshit.

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by BlackOp

They are making Rice a fall guy...they ****ing knew. It makes even more insidious... to ruin the guys life/family after the fact to deflect blame.

What I think happened was Goddell got wind of the potential for the video to be leaked. That is why he made the statement that they were "too light" on Rice and changed the policy. This was before TMZ aired it..it was preemptive damage control. His lying ass is caught in the cross-hairs...he's a sociopath.

Someone else is going to be the fall guys for this. They weren't expecting AP to uncover this part of it, so as more breaks, more will lose their job. Meanwhile GODell keeps his cozy office as he maintains chains of custody, of these types of items, away from himself.

[BlackOp]

We'll see...this cluster**** isnt going away. I'm not sure how a high ranking NFL employee..could receive a dvd..and no one knew about it. They are banking on people being stupid..I guess.

My prediction..Goddell gets fired. I cant see a spin out of this...Im curious of the blow-back to The Ravens organization. They will say they did what they were told..

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by BlackOp

We'll see...this cluster**** isnt going away. I'm not sure how a high ranking NFL employee..could receive a dvd..and no one knew about it. They are banking on people being stupid..I guess.

My prediction..Goddell gets fired. I cant see a spin out of this...Im curious of the blow-back to The Ravens organization. They will say they did what they were told..

The spin out of it is a high ranking person gets fired (early retirement), but is highly paid to keep their trap shut. More or less a settlement. There is also a contract given, pending on that settlement, that will more or less state the employee can't discuss previous actions during their employment.

Money greases these wheels quite easily.

[kcxiv]

Love him or Hate him like most people. Olberman was spot on.

[Direckshun]

I think Goddell has to go. The credibility of the NFL has reached an all time low, not all entirely due to his fault, but this story is a back-breaker all by itself.

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

IN all honesty its getting blown out of proportion anyway.

I don't see why anyone gives a **** if he did see it before but decided to use it as new evidence to give Rice the boot. **** Ray Rice I don't care.

Agreed. While what Rice did is despicable, it feels like a whole lot of grandstanding is going on right now. People saying they hope this brings the NFL to its knees.

Why? I love the NFL. I couldn't care less about Goodell but I LOVE my football.

I listened to about 10 seconds of Olbermann blathering about it and almost got sick to my stomach.

Again, I am in no way condoning what Rice did, I just think its gone a little to far by now.