Ray Rice Fired: Running Back Cut By Ravens, Suspended From NFL After Footage Of Him Beating His Wife Surfaces [VIDEO]

Ray Rice's tenure with the Baltimore Ravens has come to an end. The Ravens announced on Monday morning that they have terminated Rice's contract shortly after it was announced that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had suspended the Ravens running back indefinitely.

The saga unfolded this morning after TMZ.com released a never-before-seen video of Rice and his now wife, Janay Palmer, inside the elevator. In the video, which is raw and unedited, and we warn you is very graphic, Rice can be seen punching his wife with a left hook as she quickly confronts him. Janay falls and hits her head on the metal hand rail inside the elevator, knocking her unconscious. The video ends with Rice lazily dragging Palmer out of the elevator and dropping her on the floor.

The video was taken on February 15th at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City using security cameras both inside the elevator and outside of it on the floor where the elevator stopped. Within hours after the incident occurred, TMZ released the reverse angle of the video, where Rice is shown dragging his wife out of the elevator, the video below, was just released today.

This entire fiasco has been an embarrassment for the NFL and for the Baltimore Ravens. For months after the domestic violence incident occurred, the Ravens publicly supported Rice. They allowed him to enter into an intervention program and helped the third-degree assault charges against him get dropped.

The team never suspended Rice or gave him any further punishment, choosing instead to wait for the NFL to complete their investigation. On July 24^th, the NFL suspended Rice for two games, the maximum penalty allowed under their current CBA agreement. Shortly after the announcement of the two game suspension, the public outcry grew as fans asked how a man who clearly beat his fiancé could only serve a two-game suspension, where players who take prescription medication or smoked marijuana were suspended for four games and in the latter incident, an entire season.

The NFL and Goodell knew they had a potential PR disaster on their hands, so they met with the Players Union and set a new standard for domestic abuse and sexual assault cases at the start of September. According to the new policy, if Ray Rice had done what he did today, he would first be suspended for six games and if there was another offense, he would be suspended indefinitely.

Not that this most recent video is a second offense, but nevertheless the NFL claims they had never seen this footage originally and now believe it is within their right to suspend Rice indefinitely. Adding to the intrigue is the Revel Hotel and Casino employee who told the media on Monday that the NFL absolutely saw this footage before making their decision on Rice.

Nobody with the Ravens was available for an immediate comment following the announcement, nor has anyone released any information on Twitter. We are being told that the Ravens will hold a press conference and head coach John Harbaugh will be made available to reporters around 8:00PM EST.