Below is the footage of the Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancee, Janay Rice, with a punch in an Atlantic City elevator. Rice was controversially suspended by the NFL for just two games because of this incident–and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will have to revisit the issue now given the public outcry sure to follow the release of the new footage. It’s really unprecedented territory for a league more used to reacting after the law decides a case, or on its own only in cases of drug infractions or less violent crimes. One look at the video–which bears the terribly unfortunate watermark, TMZ SPORTS–will have many people thinking that Rice should be suspended for life from a league that will continue on without him just as profitably. But what’s fair?
Previous footage merely showed Ray Rice dragging his fiancee’s unconscious body from the elevator, with viewers left to presume what had happened inside. The new video erases all need for speculation. The video shows a violent and brutal attack by a huge man against a defenseless woman. Warning: the video is disturbing.
