If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all recently, you’ve definitely heard the name Ray Rice being thrown around quite often. And yet, although his story has been so prevalent in the media lately, many people still don’t quite know what’s going on. So I’m here to give you the low-down on the Ray Rice Controversy. A video surfaced in mid-Febrary from February 15th of Ray Rice (former Baltimore Ravens running back) and his now-wife Janay Palmer at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The video shows Rice dragging Palmer’s unconscious body out of an elevator. This lead to Rice’s indictment on March 27th on aggravated assault charges. A few months then went by, filled with a rejected plea deal and a press conference among other events. Finally, on July 24th, the NFL stated that Rice would be suspended for only two games. This news outraged the public, and resulted in a lot of backlash for Ray Rice as well as the NFL and their policies. This caused the NFL to announce that they were making changes to their domestic violence policy, but there was still no change in Rice’s penalty. In early September though, TMZ posted a newly-surfaced video, showing a second part of the story. This new video shows Rice and Palmer getting into the elevator, but then shows Rice throwing a punch at Palmer, knocking her out, having her hit her head on the elevator railing as she falls. September 8th, the very same day that this horrifying video was released, the Ravens terminated Rice’s contract, and suspended him indefinitely. The next day, Ray Rice made his first public comment, saying, “I’m just holding strong for my wife and kid, that’s all I can do right now.” In addition, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti apologized for the team’s response to the situation, and added, “The decision to let Ray Rice go was unanimous”. But the story doesn’t quite end there, because even more recently, on September 16th, Ray Rice appealed his indefinite suspension. If you’d like to know more information about the controversy, I’ve posted some links below where you can read in more detail the whole story. This story is still unfolding, and we want to hear what YOU think about all of this.
Ray Rice Controversy Links:
http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/08/ray-rice-elevator-knockout-fiancee-takes-crushing-punch-video/
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/5/23/5744964/ray-rice-arrest-assault-statement-apology-ravens
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11528530/ray-rice-expected-appeal-indefinite-suspension-nfl