Posted on 09/10/2014 7:00:10 PM PDT by tobyhill
A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive five months ago, while league executives have insisted they didn't see the violent images until this week.
The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: "You're right. It's terrible."
The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can't confirm anyone watched the video. The person said he was unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because he wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice's punishment.
The NFL has repeatedly said it asked for but could not obtain the video of Rice hitting Janay Palmer — who is now his wife — at an Atlantic City casino in February.
The league says it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until it was released by TMZ Monday. When asked about the voicemail Wednesday, NFL officials repeated their assertion that no league official had seen the video before Monday.
"We have no knowledge of this," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday. "We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
If this is true, Goodell is a goner.
Money. I don’t believe any sports business gives a you know what as long as the money comes in and they are not inconvenienced.
Just beat them up in private and run fast. That’s all we want.
/sss
Warren Moon was charged (and acquitted) of domestic battery. Rae Carruth was jailed for participating in the murder of a woman he impregnated. Chris Henry was killed when he fell from a moving pickup truck. His girlfriend was fleeing from him after a domestic dispute.
There are probably many other incidents I cannot recall. There was plenty of history to put something in place for this type of situation. Goodell is either a liar or terribly inept. Either way, he'll be gone soon, IMO.
He’s black. They just cut the first gay player. They didn’t want to cut another black player who was simply caught doin’ what happens in da hood all da time.
This time they got exposed.
A Defense attorney stated that the deal that Rice got from the DA should never had happened based on the tape.
Who specifically did he give it to?
I think his 8 Years 43 domestic violence arrests , 13 suspensions
“What is this really about?”
A stupid game with a bunch of over-paid Black animals that white guys want to watch so they give their criminal behavior a bye. Why it’s just the “gladiators” messing up their bitches, so who cares, right? Football uber alles! I had a “friend” who was a professional engineer tell me that “he knew OJ didn’t do it because he was a sports figure!” Go Figure!
“He’s an OK player, but certainly not indispensable to his team and especially not to the league or its reputation.”
That may be true, but the only thing that matters in this PC world is race and gender. When two protected and politically correct class of people collide, it’s hard to know who to pander to first.
Should the NFL protect the oppressed black man? Or should they come to the aid of the weak and vulnerable woman?
In this case gender trumped race. Who knew?
If they received the video, whether he saw it or not, he’s toast.
Goodell has made the NFL a ton of money over the years. Goodell answers to the NFL owners, and not anyone else. He ain’t going anywhere unless he wants to.
And that is where any outrage should be directed. I don’t know why the public expects any thing but entertainment from professional athletes and sports franchises.
It may have been “sent”, but was it ever delivered (to Goodell)? Like the NJ Christie Bridgegate thing, some underling may have decided that the boss didn’t need to know...
I believe that Goodell never saw the video.
I also think that because they (the NFL) acted pretty quickly to suspend them, the powers that be in the Commissioners office decided it was a done deal and then they put the film away.
Then all hell breaks loose. The Commissioner comes out with his mea culpa,and again, everyone thinks its a done deal. They will do better next time, and they establish the punishment.
I don’t blame Goodell. I blame his staff.
I would understand it if he came out with the story I outlined. But no one else wants to listen.
Finally, in my professional life we would terminate a man if he were arrested for this. I am pretty sure we would have terminated the person if we had seen the video. Of course, we hired/fired “at will.” Our employees did not have contracts.
The executives who did have contracts would have been fired, probably within the terms of moral clauses and with whatever termination clauses were in the contract.
I think members of Goodells staff have to go. And then they need to all go to a “class”.
Does this rationale make sense?
My guess is that it was sent by someone much lower on the food chain. If this was sent to the Commissioners office outside of “legal” channels, I can understand why it was suppressed.
I really think the folks in the office thought this was a done deal. Then when they realized it was falling apart, they came out and admitted they blew it. Then it continued falling apart.
Goodell has the option to quit, be fired, or gather his folks together, admit that they screwed up, figure out how to do better, and simply stop talking about it.
The liberal media want a scalp. I am not sure they deserve one other than Ray Rice.
Goodell needs to explain that the players are employees of the teams and that what the players do off the job is not really the league’s business. He could further elaborate that athletes are emotional and more inclined than the average person to use their physical strength to solve their problems.
Goodell should explain that it is not his job to monitor and report all of the off-duty behavior of the players to the public.
Goodell should say that’s the way it is, and if you don’t like it then speak to my bosses because I ain’t apologizing.
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