The National Football League has reinstated ex Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice. Rice was initially handed a two game suspension in July for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, after punching and knocking out his then fiancée and now wife, Janay, in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino in February 2014.
But as outrage intensified when video of the altercation went viral in September, Rice was cut from the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the league. And that is why Rice is eligible to play again. If he'd received a life time ban at the time, for example, his chances of reinstatement would probably be minimal.
The decision was announced Friday after former U.S. District Judge, Barbara S. Jones ruled Rice never misled the NFL, contradicting commissioner Goodell's claim that Rice was "ambiguous about what actually happened".
“In short, I do not find that Rice minimized casually what happened that night,” Judge Jones wrote. “I do not doubt that viewing the video in September evoked horror in Commissioner Goodell, as it did with the public. But this does not change the fact that Rice did not lie or mislead the N.F.L. at the June 16 meeting.”
Hopefully
judge Jones's summary (pdf) renews
calls for Goodell to step down after completely bungling the case. The NFL had to know the video existed back in February, when
TMZ released the footage, despite repeated denials of never having seen it.
ESPN has posted a lengthy interview with Janay Rice, conducted on November 5, coincidently, the same day Goodell testified at Rice's appeal hearing. She describes how and when they met, their backgrounds - events leading up to that night in the elevator and the ensuing aftermath.
As we were arguing, he was on his phone and not looking at me. I went to reach for his phone, and when he grabbed it back, he spit at me and I slapped him.
We got into the elevator and what happened inside is still foggy to me. The only thing I know -- and I can't even say I "remember" because I only know from what Ray has told me -- is that I slapped him again and then he hit me. I remember nothing else from inside the elevator.......
I still find it hard to accept being called a "victim." I know there are so many different opinions out there about me -- that I'm weak, that I'm making excuses and covering up abuse -- and that some people question my motives for staying with Ray.
However, I'm a strong woman and I come from a strong family. Never in my life have I seen abuse, nor have I seen any woman in my family physically abused. I have always been taught to respect myself and to never allow myself to be disrespected, especially by a man. Growing up, my father used to always tell my sister and I, "We don't need a man to make us, if anything it's the man who needs us."
Well, it's her life, but if being knocked out and dragged out of an elevator isn't considered disrespectful, I don't know what is.