ESPN’s Outside the Lines dropped a major bomb on the Baltimore Ravens regarding their handling of the Ray Rice situation, saying that the team engaged in a massive cover-up to lessen the punishment their star running back and franchise icon would receive.
According to ESPN’s story, the Ravens knew exactly what was on the elevator video hours after the assault took place. ESPN’s story says Ravens officials such as owner Steve Bisciotti, Dick Cass and Ozzie Newsome worked together with Rice’s lawyer, Michael J. Diamondstein, to try covering up the incident and lessening the punishment Rice would receive from both the league and legal system.
The report says “within hours of the elevator attack, an employee of the Ravens was describing the inside-elevator video to friends in graphic detail, telling confidants that Rice knocked out his then-fiancée with a punch and that the video was ‘really bad,’ according to a source close to a Ravens official.”
Rice also told his personal trainer as well as Ravens coach John Harbaugh and GM Ozzie Newsome exactly what happened. ESPN says Harbaugh and team director of player personnel George Kokinis wanted to release Rice, but Newsome, Cass and Bisciotti overruled them.
Now how is this for an example of a cover-up? From the report:
By phone, Diamondstein told Cass that the video was “f—ing horrible” and that it was clear “Ray knocked her the f— out.” The lawyer advised Cass that the video, if released, would amount to a public relations disaster for the Ravens and for his client.
For that reason, the Ravens tried hard to get Rice in a pretrial intervention program. Part of the conditions of the program are that the video would remain private. They knew what was on the video. They didn’t want to see what was on the video because that would probably weigh on their conscience and make it harder for them to continue their cover-up.
And who was leading the cover-up? Supposedly it was Ravens owner Bisciotti, who after cutting Rice when the video came out, texted the running back to say there was a job waiting for him after football.
Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay.
When you’re done with football, I’d like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league.
Rice interpreted the these text messages from Bisciotti as a bribe for his silence while the team and league threw him under the bus.
What a scumbag. Bet Bisciotti never thought that would come out.
[Previously: Bisciotti on Rice – We have a tendency to hear what we want to hear]
This is just like what we told you 9 days ago: the Ravens knew what was on the tape and tried to bury it.
