National Football League

Report: Ravens knew of Rice elevator video, never asked to see it

Published Sep. 11, 2014 5:31 a.m. ET

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Roger Goodell and the NFL are catching hell over a report that they knew in April there was a video of Ray Rice knocking out his fiancee, but they didn't ask to see it. Now a new report is accusing the Baltimore Ravens of the same thing.

A report by The Associated Press published Wednesday afternoon claimed a law enforcement official sent the video to the NFL offices in April, and that the league confirmed receiving it. Later Wednesday, sources told ABC News that the Ravens were aware that surveillance video of the incident existed and that Rice's lawyer had a copy, but they never asked to see the footage.

The video shows Rice punching Janay Palmer in the face in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino. Baltimore cut Rice shortly after TMZ published the video on its website Monday. In a press conference later that afternoon, head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that the video "wasn't made available to us."

"As far as I know, yeah, it wasn't something we ever saw or had access to," Harbaugh added.

On Tuesday, in a letter to fans and shareholders, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said the team asked to see the video but was refused.

"We contacted the casino management and asked if there was video of the incident from inside the elevator that we could see," he wrote. "The casino would not share such video. We asked the local New Jersey police and the police refused as well. We asked the prosecutor's office and that office refused. It was our understanding at that time that Ray's attorney had not yet seen the video. NFL officials had been informed, and we know they were also trying to retrieve and/or see the video."

Rice is suspended indefinitely by the NFL, and teams reportedly have been asked not to contact him until further notice from the league office.

More from NESN:

Floyd Mayweather Says NFL Went Too Hard On Ray Rice With Suspension

Roger Goodell: NFL Never Got 'Opportunity' To See Ray Rice Punch Video

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