The NFL swears executives did not see the surveillance footage of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice knocking out his wife with one punch inside a casino elevator, but media outlets are citing sources saying otherwise, and former Raven Wally Williams agrees the league’s statement is “a total cover-up.”
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“I think it is a total cover-up by the NFL. They’re just trying to save themselves on this one. I think they all had the opportunity to see this video,” Williams, a former left guard and current analyst for CBS Baltimore, said during a CNN appearance (above) on Tuesday. “I’ve been around these buildings. It is very secure. The security system is right there in front of you. FBI, local police, everybody is right there at the facility on a daily basis. For these individuals not to know about this video, I agree, it’s very hard to believe.”
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After video of the Feb. 15 incident at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City hit the web on Monday, the NFL released a statement saying the “video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”
Former NFL linebacker Coy Wire joined Williams in the same segment to share similar concerns, and stress that TMZ reporters should not be better investigators than those working for the NFL.
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“There should have been a way for them to find out. And if not, well then, they need to hire someone from TMZ to do the investigative services for them because I think that’s absurd,” Wire said. “For them to not to make a concerted effort to find out what really happened inside the elevator, it baffles me.
An NFL spokesman doubled down on the league’s innocence in the matter on Tuesday.
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“Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police,” Brian McCarthy, NFL vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement to the media. “As we said yesterday: We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us.”