Just when the Ray Rice controversy was beginning to recede from view, it’s back.
It’s back because the NFL has decided to provide more details to ABC News regarding the efforts to get the controversial Ray Rice elevator video.
“We reached out to multiple law enforcement agencies and a court, but were unable to come up with the video,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told ABC News. “With each of these efforts it was ‘give us everything.’”
McCarthy explained that the effort to acquire information began on February 19, four days after Rice knocked out his then-fiancée, now wife. NFL security representative Jim Buckley contacted the Atlantic City Police Department to request a copy of the incident report. Buckley was told to file a request under the “open records” law. Buckley also was informed that publicly-available documents weren’t likely to elaborate on the details of the assault.
Buckley’s effort to gather information included a call to the Atlantic County Solicitor’s Office, in an unsuccessful effort to reach the deputy solicitor. The league also asked the New Jersey State Police to assist, but they couldn’t because they had no involvement in the investigation.
Finally, the league attempted on June 6 to get the video from Jill Houck, the pre-trial intervention director at the Atlantic County Superior Court. She told the NFL the police report was not available.
The ABC News report, like so many other articles regarding this case, omits reference to any efforts to get the video from Rice or Rice’s lawyer, Michael Diamondstein. Diamondstein had the video, and the Ravens have acknowledged that, if they’d simply insisted that Rice direct Diamondstein to give the team the video, the team would have had it.
Earlier today, we directly asked the NFL whether Rice or his lawyer were asked to produce the video. The league has not yet responded.
Then there’s the question of whether the NFL legally could have gotten the video from the casino where the assault occurred. The league has insisted that the casino couldn’t have legally disclosed it. The director of communications for the New Jersey Attorney General has said that the casino would not have violated any laws by giving the NFL the video.
Perhaps the biggest question is the timing of the NFL’s decision to address an issue that currently is dormant, and that likely would have remained that way until the release of Robert Mueller’s report. The potential answer is obvious; with the NFL’s owners gathering for the first time since the Rice video emerged 29 days ago, the league office wanted to publicize its version of the attempts to get the video in advance of the gathering of the 32 people who eventually will scrutinize the situation and determine whether “accountability” will include consequences.