The NFL pleaded ignorance Monday when a shocking video of Ray Rice hitting his then-fiancée surfaced. However, it sounds like the NFL actually might have kept itself in the dark.
The NFL claimed it hadn’t seen the video released Monday by TMZ and showing Rice striking his now-wife Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City casino elevator. Not long after the video was released, Rice was cut by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
TMZSports.com reported Tuesday morning that the NFL never contacted the casino to get the surveillance camera video of the incident. Sources “connected” with the Revl Hotel and Casino told TMZ Sports that the casino would have handed over the video — if the NFL had asked for it.
The NFL released a statement Tuesday doubling down on its claim that it asked law enforcement for “any related videos” pertaining to the incident.
“Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey State Police,” the NFL said in a statement released to ProFootballTalk.com. “Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police. As we said (Monday): 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.”
Without that damning evidence, the NFL originally suspended Rice for just two games after the incident came to light.
According to the most recent TMZ Sports report, the casino made a copy of the elevator video for the police. The NFL didn’t get that video from law enforcement because of the status of the ongoing case.
