Ray Rice Elevator Video: NFL Never Asked Revel Casino For A Copy Of Janay Palmer Footage, Report Says

The NFL never asked Atlantic City's Revel Hotel and Casino for a copy of the elevator surveillance video that led to the indefinite suspension of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, according to a report. The assertion came after an NFL spokesman said Monday that league officials never received access to the tape, despite repeated requests to law enforcement.

Sources associated with Revel – the casino where Rice knocked his then-fiancée unconscious in a February domestic assault incident – said that no one associated with the NFL ever asked to see the surveillance footage, TMZ Sports reports. Revel would have provided the Rice elevator video if the league had asked, the sources added.

Law enforcement would not supply a copy of the video to the NFL because it was evidence in a pending investigation at the time, a source within the league told TMZ. But the league could have obtained the tape from Revel or from Rice’s lawyer, who had their own copies.

“Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey State Police,” the NFL said in a statement on TMZ’s report. “Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police. 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.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ruled in July that Rice would be suspended without pay for two games and fined an additional game check for assaulting Janay Palmer. However, Goodell levied that suspension without having watched actual footage of the incident, the league said Monday.

“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” the NFL said in a statement. “That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today."

In the wake of the elevator video’s leak, the Ravens announced that they terminated the remaining three years on Rice’s contract. In addition, Goodell announced Rice’s indefinite suspension, without any indication of when or if he could appeal the decision.