TMZ founder Harvey Levin says the National Football League knew about the existence of a video showing Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee in the head, but did nothing about it.
The grainy surveillance video, obtained by TMZ and posted on the celebrity news website Monday, shows Rice strike Janay Palmer in a casino elevator in February. She was knocked unconscious, and Rice dragged her into a hallway when the doors opened.
During an appearance on Fox 5 DC, Levin said the NFL was aware of the surveillance video, and said police and prosecutors also knew it existed.
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"I have gotten conflicting stories on this, and we have some people saying they saw this [video]," Levin said. "But I now believe they actually turned a blind eye to it.
"It's a shameful story that the NFL knew that this surveillance video existed. They knew that this casino had surveillance video. I know they knew that . . . The prosecutors had this, the police had this. I know other people had this video, too.
"It almost feels like [the NFL] didn't want to know."
Rice was
suspended indefinitely by the NFL after the league viewed the video, and the Ravens released him.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday that the league had not seen the video until TMZ released it.
"We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator," McCarthy said. "That video was not made available to us, and no one in our office has seen it until today."
Rice was arrested after the Feb. 15 incident, and on March 27, the day before the couple got married, a grand jury indicted him on third-degree aggravated assault charges. The NFL suspended him for the first two games of the season before the video was made public.