(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) - Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was sacked by his team Monday — and suspended by the NFL — after a horrific new video showing him decking his fiancée in a casino elevator emerged.
“The #Ravens have terminated RB Ray Rice's contract this afternoon,” the team announced in a terse tweet.
Less than an hour later, an NFL spokesman tweeted that pro-football commissioner Roger Goodell had given Rice the boot.
“Roger Goodell has announced that based on new video evidence that became available today, he has indefinitely suspended Ray Rice,” Greg Aiello wrote.
The double hit on Rice came amid renewed outrage over the way the NFL has handled the scandal — and as Ravens coach John Harbaugh scheduled an 8 p.m. news conference, where the running back’s future was expected to be discussed.
Rice, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in four straight seasons for the Ravens, was already in the doghouse after a disappointing 2013 season during which he gained 660 yards and scored just four touchdowns.
There was no immediate comment from Rice, but the suspension means he may never play NFL football again.
“It means no team can sign him at this point,” a league insider said. “To be reinstated, he has to go through the league.”
The new footage posted by TMZ.com on Monday showed Rice knocking out Janay Palmer seconds after the doors closed — and sent shockwaves across professional football.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had taken heat for suspending Rice for just two games after the first batch of tape emerged last month showing the player dragging his unconscious wife out of the elevator.
Confronted with the new footage, Goodell insisted he had never seen it before.
“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” the NFL said in a statement. “That video was not made available to us. And no one in our office has seen it until today.”
Contacted by The Daily News, the Atlantic County prosecutor's office declined to comment on the video or the NFL’s claim that they never saw it.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/video-ray-rice-punching-then-fiancee-casino-elevator-emerges-article-1.1931889#ixzz3CklfIjb1) -
“The #Ravens have terminated RB Ray Rice's contract this afternoon,” the team announced in a terse tweet.
Less than an hour later, an NFL spokesman tweeted that pro-football commissioner Roger Goodell had given Rice the boot.
“Roger Goodell has announced that based on new video evidence that became available today, he has indefinitely suspended Ray Rice,” Greg Aiello wrote.
The double hit on Rice came amid renewed outrage over the way the NFL has handled the scandal — and as Ravens coach John Harbaugh scheduled an 8 p.m. news conference, where the running back’s future was expected to be discussed.
Rice, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in four straight seasons for the Ravens, was already in the doghouse after a disappointing 2013 season during which he gained 660 yards and scored just four touchdowns.
There was no immediate comment from Rice, but the suspension means he may never play NFL football again.
“It means no team can sign him at this point,” a league insider said. “To be reinstated, he has to go through the league.”
The new footage posted by TMZ.com on Monday showed Rice knocking out Janay Palmer seconds after the doors closed — and sent shockwaves across professional football.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had taken heat for suspending Rice for just two games after the first batch of tape emerged last month showing the player dragging his unconscious wife out of the elevator.
Confronted with the new footage, Goodell insisted he had never seen it before.
“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” the NFL said in a statement. “That video was not made available to us. And no one in our office has seen it until today.”
Contacted by The Daily News, the Atlantic County prosecutor's office declined to comment on the video or the NFL’s claim that they never saw it.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/video-ray-rice-punching-then-fiancee-casino-elevator-emerges-article-1.1931889#ixzz3CklfIjb1) -