Ray Rice plays NFL football. He is a star. He punched another person, a woman. Knocked her out cold in an elevator. That is what the police report determined. (Not a tabloid report. A police report.)
When the elevator doors opened, Mr. Rice dragged the victim's unconscious body out into the hallway. He stood off and did nothing when a stranger arrived. The stranger rendered aid and revived the victim. That is what a video from a camera located outside the elevator determined.
The NFL had both the police report and the outside-the-elevator video. The NFL knew that the public had them too. The NFL suspended Mr. Rice for two (2) games. Mr. Rice's NFL team issued a press release that it was standing behind him.
Then a second video surfaced just the other day. This video is from a camera located inside the elevator. It apparently clearly displays Mr. Rice's punch, the victim falling unconscious to the floor, and Mr. Rice beginning to drag the victim's body out of the elevator and into the range of the camera which had the first video.
The NFL suspended Mr. Rice "indefinitely" because of the second video. And because the second video is public. Mr. Rice's NFL team has cut him from the squad.
Many people are pointing out, correctly, that it doesn't take a video to establish an assault. The facts -- like those in the police report -- determine whether there has been an assault, and the facts are not often captured on a video display. See, e.g., Ken Belson, "After Punch is Seen, Rice is Out" p. A1, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l ed., Tuesday, September 9, 2014)(there is an embedded link to the second video in this newspaper report); Juliet Macur, "Sports of The Times / Forget Video; the Facts Are Shocking Enough" p. B12, col. 4 (New York Times Nat'l ed., Tuesday, September 9, 2014)(there is also an embedded link to the second video in this newspaper report).
The second video does more than display Mr. Rice's knockout punch and subsequent behavior for all the world to see. The second video in this case shows the bad faith of the original decision.
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