The Associated Press reported a major development concerning the tape from inside the elevator:
Mike Garafolo from Fox Sports shares NFL’s response
The Associated Press also reported
The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can’t confirm anyone watched the video. The person said they were unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because they wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice’s punishment.
Terry O’Neill, the president for the National Organization for Women, issued a statement calling for Roger Goodell to resign (via ESPN.com news services):
The NFL has lost its way. It doesn’t have a Ray Rice problem; it has a violence against women problem. … The only workable solution is for Roger Goodell to resign and for his successor to appoint an independent investigator with full authority to gather factual data about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking within the NFL community and to recommend real and lasting reforms.
The NFL sets the example for college, high school, middle school and even elementary school football programs. And the example it is setting right now is simply unacceptable. New leadership must come in with a specific charge to transform the culture of violence against women that pervades the NFL. That’s the only way to restore honor and integrity to the country’s most lucrative and popular pastime.
Amid rampant criticism over his handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sat down with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday to discuss Rice’s future and deny that anyone in the league office had seen the harrowing video leaked by TMZ Monday morning.
“We had not seen any video tape of what occurred in the elevator. We assumed that there was a video, we asked for the video, we asked for anything that was pertinent, but we were never granted that opportunity,” Goodell said, per CBS News.
CBS News also provided the full transcript of the interview.
Rice, 27, was released by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the league hours after TMZ published an elevator surveillance video that showed him striking his then-fiancee. He is seen striking Janay Palmer twice, once with a glancing blow and again when she charged toward him, this time with a closed fist. Palmer fell and hit her head on the elevator railing after being struck, leaving her unconscious.
