Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his wife, Janay Palmer, held a press conference Friday afternoon to speak about their domestic violence incident earlier this year.
In February Rice was charged with assault after an incident involving his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer. According to reports, Rice and Palmer were arguing at the Revel Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., when the argument took a violent turn. In the TMZ-released security video, you can see Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer off the elevator before a security guard intervened. Palmer was also charged in the incident.
Earlier this week Rice was accepted into a pretrial intervention program, which means he will avoid jail time.
“The arrest will remain on his record; however, he will have no conviction,” said First Assistant Prosecutor Diane Ruberton. “He’s being treated the same as any other defendant would be in Atlantic County.”
Today's press conference was the first time Rice has spoken publicly to the media since the February incident. The Ravens Twitter account live-tweeted the press conference:
https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469915837210456064https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469916631351984128https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469916892522508288https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469917140158386176https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469917248392396800https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469917597375266817https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469917998690496513https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469918180572282880https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469918292061061120
Although Rice’s legal troubles appear to be over, he could still face punishment—including a suspension and fines—from the NFL.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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