NFL cover-up? Reporters say league saw or had access to Ray Rice video

The NFL is caught up in one of its biggest scandals in recent memory because it looks like there is a big cover-up regarding their handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case.

In July, the NFL suspended Rice two games. Commissioner Roger Goodell cited Rice’s character and previously clean record as reasons for the light punishment. After being met with fan and media outrage, the league later amended its punishment policy on domestic violence. Commissioner Goodell did even more damage control, saying two weeks ago that the league got it wrong with the original Rice suspension.

But the cover-up portion of the story occurred on Monday, when in response to TMZ releasing video of Ray Rice actually knocking out Janay Palmer inside the elevator, the NFL and Ravens said they hadn’t previously seen the video.

“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”

The idea that the video was not made available to the league goes against what many prominent and trusted NFL reporters said over the past few months. As powerful as the league is, it’s a joke to think they wouldn’t have been able to obtain the video.

Let’s take a look at everyone who has evidence indicating the NFL is lying.

In their write-up for the story where they posted the latest Ray Rice video, TMZ reports that an employee at the hotel/casino where the incident occurred said the NFL saw the footage:

An employee of the hotel — which just shut down for good — tells TMZ Sports he was working there at the time and says the NFL saw the elevator footage before imposing the 2-game suspension.

Here’s what TheMMQB.com’s Peter King wrote on July 29 when talking about the Ray Rice suspension. He said the NFL and some Ravens officials had seen the video.

There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée. I have heard reports of what is on the video, but because I could not confirm them and because of the sensitivity of the case, I never speculated on the video in my writing, because I don’t think it is fair in an incendiary case like this one to use something I cannot confirm with more than one person. I cannot say any more, because I did not see the tape. I saw only the damning tape of Rice pulling his unconscious fiancée out of the elevator.

On Monday, King took back what he wrote in July, presumably after the NFL barked at him, saying he could no longer confirm that the league and Ravens had seen the video.

ESPNW’s Jane McManus, a veteran NFL reporter, says the NFL had access to the video.

On Monday, after TMZ posted it, the NFL said the league had requested the video from prosecutors in the aggravated assault case, but hadn’t been given it. This contradicts what two league sources had previously told me at the time the two-game suspension was announced, which was that the NFL had access to all the evidence that the prosecutors did.

McManus’ report disputes the notion that the NFL made an attempt to obtain the video but was denied.

Chris Mortensen, in a radio appearance with Dari and Mel on July 26, described in detail what he was told was shown on the elevator video. Mort was speaking in response to a question about the expectations for the Ray Rice penalty.

“I think the expectations from around the league — even from the Ravens internally — was that it would be more than two games. We’ve all seen the TMZ video of Ray dragging [his fiancée] off an elevator. I’m told by numerous sources — or, a few good sources — that the video from inside the elevator, which we’ve never seen, shows Janay surely attacking Ray, so he’s in a confined area. But still, what they tell you to do, is get away from it or restrain. You can restrain her, but you can’t deliver a punch, an uppercut, which Ray allegedly did inside that elevator. I’m told that Janay hit her head on the railing. That would seem to justify a pretty severe sanction.”

There was also a report back on Feb. 21, days after the assault took place, saying police had the video of Rice knocking out Palmer. Let’s also not forget Ray Rice’s attorney, who in February downplayed the incident as a “very minor physical altercation.”

H/T Deadspin