Bob CollinsRay Rice, the Baltimore Ravens star, was suspended by the National Football League for two games after a video surfaced showing him dragging the woman who is now his wife out of a hotel elevator after a domestic fight.
In the face of criticism that the punishment was too light, NFL boss Roger Goodell increased the penalty to six games for future incidents by players.
Now, TMZ Sports has released the video of what went on inside the elevator and the allegations are renewed that the NFL has gone way too easy on players who club their wives and girlfriends.
The NFL is insisting it never saw the video until today.
“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today,” a league spokesman tells TMZ, which points out the NFL didn’t say it tried to get the video from the casino where the fight took place.
Today’s story also appears to illuminate the extent to which some of the nation’s top sportswriters have covered for the NFL. Deadspin says Sports Illustrated’s Peter King had earlier indicated the NFL had seen the elevator footage, suggesting it gave the league reason for a relatively light punishment.
Curiously, the Baltimore Ravens haven’t reconsidered whether leaving this tweet up was a very good idea.
Related: What new Ray Rice video proves: the people who have the footage have the power (Vox).
Update 1:32 p.m. – The Ravens have released Rice.
