Ravens axe Rice after video shows him punching fiancée
Super Bowl winner is suspended indefinitely by the NFL over assault in lift in February
Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the National Football League after video footage emerged showing him punching and knocking out his fiancée, who is now his wife.
Just 19 months after the star running back helped Baltimore win the Super Bowl, Rice was dismissed in disgrace with the Ravens terminating a contract that would have paid him US$10 million over the next three years.
The new video released online by TMZ shows Rice striking Janay Palmer with his left fist in a February altercation in an Atlantic City casino lift.
It's something we saw for the first time today. It changed things
"It's something we saw for the first time today," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of the video. "It changed things."
Instead of Rice preparing to return from a two-game ban seen by most as far too lenient, his domestic violence episode exploded as the biggest sports story in America.
"When someone you care about does wrong and faces the consequences of doing wrong and rightfully so, it is hurtful and painful," Harbaugh said.
An earlier TMZ video release only showed Rice carrying an unconscious Palmer out of the lift and brought the two-game ban for Rice from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who admitted last month that he had blundered with so small a suspension.
A tougher new domestic violence policy for the NFL requires a six-game suspension for a first violation, and, for repeat offenders, indefinite and possible lifetime bans.