NFL's Rice suspended
September 9, 2014
Back in 2013 star running back Ray Rice helped Baltimore win the Super Bowl, one of the world's biggest sports events. Nowadays, the 27-year-old has lost his job and been suspended from the NFL indefinitely.
A new video released online by TMZ Sports shows Rice striking Janay Palmer, now his wife, with his left hand in February in an Atlantic City casino elevator.
An earlier TMZ video release only showed Rice carrying an unconscious Palmer off the elevator. That brought a two-game ban by the NFL.
On seeing the new video, Rice's team did not hesitate to suspend him, making a short statement on Monday: "The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon."
Rice was due to receive some $10 million (7.76 million euros) over the next three years.
Nation in shock
"It's something we saw for the first time today," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of the video. "It changed things."
"Having the locker right beside him, he seemed like a good guy," said Ravens lineman Michael Oher. "But there's no place for striking a woman like that."
The incident even drew the attention of US President Barack Obama.
"The President is the father of two daughters," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. "And like any American, he believes that domestic violence is contemptible and unacceptable in a civilized society."
"Hitting a woman is not something a real man does, and that's true whether or not an act of violence happens in the public eye, or, far too often, behind closed doors," he added.
A tougher new domestic violence policy instigated by the NFL requires a six-game suspension for a first violation, and, for repeat offenders, indefinite and possible lifetime bans.
The incident isn't the first case of domestic violence to make headlines in recent months in American sports. NBA basketballer Greg Oden recently appeared in court for punching his girlfriend in the face three times. At the start of September, San Francisco 49ers footballer Ray McDonald was also charged for domestic violence against his pregnant wife.
al/dr (AP, AFP)