|
 Janay Rice, who married Ray Rice shortly after the February
incident, accused the media of using the episode to pump up audience
ratings.
"No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options (sic) from
the public has caused my family," she wrote in an Instagram post
about the incident. "To make us relive a moment in our lives that we
regret everyday is a horrible thing."
Ray Rice, a top running back in the NFL until last season, was
released by the Ravens on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the
league after the graphic video went viral.
In breaking his silence after the video's release, Rice was quoted
as saying: "I'm just holding strong for my wife and kid, that's all
I can do right now," according to a tweet from CNN's Rachel Nichols.
Security camera footage shows Rice punching Janay inside an elevator
at a New Jersey casino, her head hitting a rail before she crumples
to the floor. An earlier video only shows Rice dragging the
unconscious woman from the elevator.
The disclosure has raised the heat on the NFL and its commissioner,
Roger Goodell, for being too lenient on the star player when it
initially suspended him for two games and fined him $500,000. It has
also raised questions about why the league had not seen the graphic
footage before Monday.
 When asked in a CBS News interview on Tuesday whether the NFL needed
to see the second video to make a decision on suspending Rice,
Goodell said "we certainly didn't".
"What we saw yesterday was extremely clear, is extremely graphic and
it was sickening. And that's why we took the action we took
yesterday," Goodell said.
The incident is the latest in a series of embarrassments for the
league, which generates billions of dollars a year in revenues and
ranks as one of the world's most successful sports empires.
Despite Goodell's efforts to stem the tide and contain the damage to
the NFL's image, at least 21 players have been arrested this year,
with charges ranging from public intoxication to weapons violations.
TOUGHER SANCTIONS
The NFL insisted it had not seen the new video of Rice until Monday,
when it was released by the website TMZ. It said it was never
informed of its existence while it conducted a thorough
investigation of the incident earlier this year.
"We had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. We
assumed there was a video," Goodell told CBS. "We asked for video.
But we were never granted that opportunity."
The NFL, in a statement, said the video was not made available
despite requests to New Jersey law enforcement for "any and all
information about the incident, including any video that may exist."
[to top of second column] |
Before the new video emerged, Goodell, who had a reputation as a
no-nonsense commissioner who would not tolerate unacceptable
off-the-field behavior, conceded he "didn't get it right" when he
initially suspended Rice for two games. He has since toughened the
sanctions for NFL players who commit domestic violence.
Rice was indicted by a grand jury in March on third-degree
aggravated assault but the charge was dropped because Janay declined
to testify against him. He agreed to court-supervised counseling.
Prosecutors said on Monday Rice would face no further charges if he
completed the program.
Goodell told CBS he would not rule out that Rice's suspension would
mean he would never play in the NFL again.
"He would have to make sure we are fully confident that he is
addressing this issue clearly," Goodell said. "He has paid a price
for the actions that he has already taken."
While Rice's wife was criticizing his detractors, Rice's sponsor,
his former team and its fans took steps to distance themselves from
the one-time star player.
Nike Inc said it was dropping its endorsement deal with Rice. The
value of the deal was not immediately clear.
The Ravens, meanwhile, said they would let fans exchange their Ray
Rice jerseys at its stadium stores. It declined to disclose the
terms of the swap.
A Baltimore pizza parlor was offering a free pizza and said it would
donate $2.70, after Rice's number 27, to a local shelter for every
jersey it received.
"These jerseys will save us money on toilet paper this week,"
Hersh's Pizza and Drinks said on its Facebook page.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Additional reporting by
Peter Cooney in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott, Dan Grebler and
Eric Walsh)
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