The NFL claimed Monday that it hadn’t seen alleged video footage of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee before it dealt the Baltimore Ravens running back a two-game suspension. But that runs counter to previous media reports that indicated the league had seen the footage that was obtained by TMZ.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reported in July that “the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen” the footage from inside an Atlantic City hotel elevator.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported the same thing around the same time.
Now those reporters are reporting something very different out of the league and team’s respective camps.
According to Mortensen, the league is now saying that elevator video “was not made available to them,despite requests to law enforcement.”
Jason La Canfora, a reporter for CBSSports, reported that Ravens officials “had not seen this Rice video prior to today but he had described actions in detail.”
Curiously, King, who did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment, appeared to overlook his own reporting on the matter.
“If league officials saw this video before issuing the two-game ban for Rice, all the scorn that’s been heaped on Roger Goodell and his colleagues will be deserved,” King wrote Monday.
