The Baltimore Ravens have terminated the contract of running back Ray Rice after the release Monday of video showing him brutally beating his then-fiancée. He has also been suspended from the NFL.
The NFL suspended Rice for two games for the attack, which knocked the woman unconscious in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, however, announced a change to league rules after public outcry over the severity of the punishment compared to the four-game suspension players face for a first-time positive test for banned substances like marijuana.
TMZ Sports posted surveillance video from the February incident showing Rice and Janay Palmer, who is now his wife, enter an elevator, where he punches her.
She then lunges toward Rice, who knocks her unconscious with a second blow.
He then drags her limp body halfway out of the elevator and lays her facedown on the floor.
NFL officials claim they had not seen the video until it was posted online by the gossip site.
“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator," the league said in a statement. "That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today."
Goodell announced Monday he had indefinitely suspended Rice from the NFL.
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