Law Enforcement Says NFL Received Ray Rice Video Months Ago

A law enforcement officer says he sent the video showing Ray Rice coldcocking his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City elevator to an NFL executive’s office and has a voicemail confirming its receipt, according to the Associated Press.

If an NFL official watched the tape, that would fly in the face of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s statement to CBS This Morning that “no one in the NFL” had seen the full video of what transpired inside the elevator at the Revel Casino Hotel on Feb. 15.

Video from the aftermath of the fight, in which Rice could be seen pulling his unconscious fiancee from the elevator, had previously been released by TMZ.

After TMZ Sports released a second video Monday showing what happened inside the elevator, Rice was cut from the Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL.

NFL officials said they had not seen the footage “until today,” according to a statement released Monday, which reported league officials requested all materials from law enforcement but were denied access due to the ongoing investigation.

Over the summer, Goodell issued a two-game suspension and fine for Rice, but changed the penalty to an indefinite suspension after the release of the second video.

TMZ, which broke the story of the Rice assault and obtained the footage from the casino, said that the official police investigation ended May 20, so that material would have been available and Goodell did not try to obtain it at that point.

Even so, the claim that nobody in the NFL saw the video of the assault is on shaky ground after the Associated Press reports evidence of a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office phone on April 9 in which a woman confirmed receipt of the video to the law enforcement officer and said: “You’re right; it’s terrible.”

As a result of the NFL’s handling of domestic violence, the National Organization for Women is calling for Goodell’s resignation. It has posted a petition calling for his resignation on its website and started a hashtag to promote its campaign: #ResignGoodell.

In addition, 12 Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell Wednesday calling for increased transparency about the Rice investigation, stating: “Given the important role the NFL and the other major professional sports leagues can play in shaping public perceptions concerning domestic violence, it would appear to be in the public interest to have the highest level of transparency associated with reviews of potential misconduct,” according to a letter published in full by USA Today.

Photo Credit: TMZ Sports/YouTube

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