The grainy images, captured without sound, show a man and a woman in an elevator.More.
He turns toward her, then walks away. She comes at him, and he punches her on the side of the head, knocking her off her feet and into a railing. When the doors open he drags her limp body behind him.
Ray Rice, who threw the punch, was a star running back with the Baltimore Ravens. The woman was Janay Palmer, at the time Rice's fiancee, now his wife.
Within hours of the video's release by TMZ Sports, Rice's career as a professional football player was in jeopardy. His contract was terminated by the Ravens and the NFL announced he was suspended indefinitely.
But the league and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, may be in trouble too.
The surveillance video released Monday is the second look at that altercation. The first, which surfaced six months ago, shows Rice pulling Palmer out of a casino elevator. It led to Rice's being charged with third-degree assault, a felony; Palmer with simple assault, a misdemeanor. Rice agreed to enter a diversionary program, allowing him to avoid trial.
In July, the NFL suspended Rice for two games, which drew widespread criticism as too lenient.
Now, with the release of the latest video, the league is facing more troubling questions: Either its initial investigation failed to turn up the second, more graphic video; or its leaders were not being truthful Monday when they said they were seeing that footage for the first time...
PREVIOUSLY: "Ray Rice Booted by Ravens After Brutal Elevator Knock-Out Video Goes Public."
BONUS: At CNN, "Sklar: NFL is an organization that needs immediate change."
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