Ravens Terminate Ray Rice Contract After TMZ Video Released

Hours after TMZ Sports revealed a video showing Ray Rice assaulting his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City elevator, the Baltimore Ravens cut Rice from the team.

Rice’s contract was terminated Monday afternoon, according to an announcement on the Ravens website.

Ravens Coach John Harbaugh plans to address the media at 8 p.m. on Monday, following practice.

The NFL has indefinitely suspended Rice, according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

Rice had been with the Ravens for seven years and was a three-time Pro Bowler drafted in the second round in 2008 out of Rutgers University. After the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2012, Rice signed a five-year contract extension worth $40 million, according to ESPN.

Previously, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice for two games as a result of the assault charge, a penalty that would have ended after this Thursday’s game against the Steelers.

That changed after TMZ Sports released footage Monday morning showing the assault that took place Feb. 15 in which Rice knocked his then-fiancee Janay Palmer unconscious in an elevator at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City.

Earlier in the year, the public saw video from the aftermath of the fight, in which Rice could be seen pulling Palmer, who appeared out cold, from the elevator.

NFL officials said they had not seen the video during their investigation and that despite requesting all materials from law enforcement, they had not seen the footage “until today,” according to a statement issued Monday.

In late August, the NFL changed its policy on domestic violence after being harshly criticized regarding Rice’s penalty; going forward, players face six-game suspensions for first-time offenses and a lifetime ban for second offenses.

Despite the one-time offense in Rice’s case, the NFL was reportedly suspending him indefinitely after Monday’s video released by TMZ.

Rice was admitted to a pretrial intervention program in New Jersey as a result of the February assault and had reported that he and his wife were undergoing counseling. Rice, Palmer and their daughter Rayven live in Reisterstown.