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A New Ray Rice Video Was Just Released
It's been 10 months since NFL player Ray Rice assaulted his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City hotel elevator, but details of the harrowing case continue to surface. ABC News has just obtained a new video of Ray Rice and Janay Palmer, captured by the hotel's surveillance cameras. The 45-minute video shows the aftermath of the elevator assault, when both Rice and Palmer were arrested by Atlantic City police and each charged with one count of assault. The charges against Palmer were later dropped.
The previously unreleased footage almost as difficult to watch as the initial video released by TMZ, which showed Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of an elevator. A second video released to the public six months later captured Rice punching Palmer in the head, causing her to hit her head against the elevator wall and fall to the ground.
In this latest video, three minutes of which were posted online at ABC News, both Rice and Palmer are placed in handcuffs and separated in what looks like a lobby. Palmer is obviously distraught, visibly angry at first before starting to cry and shake. Rice remains seemingly calm.
Later in the footage, Rice and Palmer, still in handcuffs, are led by authorities to an elevator. There, Palmer, who's crying, leans into Rice and gives him a kiss.
Rice and his legal team reportedly tried to block ABC News from obtaining and releasing the video. Rice's lawyer, Peter Ginsburg, told ABC News:
This is a time of healing and he, quite naturally, doesn’t want another media showing of what must have been the worst event of his life. What the media ought to be focusing on is the issue of domestic violence.
Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL in early September, shortly after the extended version of the elevator video was released. Prior to release of the full video, NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell penalized Rice with just a two-game suspension.
But Rice's indefinite suspension was short-lived. In November, the former Baltimore Ravens running back won his appeal in a hearing overseen by former U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones. The judge concluded that Rice did not mislead the NFL nor hid details from the league. Rice can now play for an NFL team that would have him (so far, none have signed him).
Just a few days after Rice won his appeal, Palmer gave an exclusive interview to Matt Lauer, her mom by her side. She told Lauer that she doesn't see herself as a victim of domestic violence, and that Rice is not a repeat offender:
There’s no way [he’ll hit me again]. He knows what he’d have to deal with. I’m not going to sit there in silence and let something happen to me. And, God forbid, in front of my child. No way.
Images: Getty Images, screenshot/Today Show