Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome: Ray Rice didn't lie to me
Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome told the Baltimore Sun that former Ravens running back Ray Rice told him the truth when he recounted what happened the night Rice punched then-fiancee Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City casino elevator.
"Ray had given a story to John [Harbaugh] and I. And what we saw on the video was what Ray said. Ray didn’t lie to me. He didn’t lie to me," said Newsome.
Team president Dick Cass said what he saw on the video "looks very different from what we understood the facts to be."
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"There’s a big difference between reading a report that says he knocked her unconscious or being told that someone had slapped someone and that she had hit her head. That is one version of the facts. That’s what we understood to be the case," said Cass.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti told the Sun that all three executives failed, and that the organization has to work to win back the trust of fans. He called the video of Rice striking Palmer "disgusting and shocking" and reiterated that Monday was the first time the Ravens had seen it. Baltimore released Rice later that day.
On Tuesday, a letter from Bisciotti apologizing to fans was posted on the Ravens website.
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The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell also maintain that they did not see the video until Monday and were never given the opportunity to. On Wednesday, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press he sent an NFL executive the video in April.
- Molly Geary
