Ray Rice Told NFL Head in June That He Hit Fiancée, Report Says

Ray Rice told NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a June 16 meeting that he had hit his then-fiancée in February, according to a new report, contradicting Goodell’s claim that he did not know about the punch until video of it surfaced this week.

ESPN, citing multiple unnamed sources, reports that Goodell heard it directly from Rice. “Ray didn’t lie to the commissioner,” one source told the network’s Outside the Lines program. “He told the full truth to Goodell—he made it clear he had hit her, and he told Goodell he was sorry and that it wouldn’t happen again.”

The league indefinitely suspended Rice on Monday after footage of him hitting his now-wife Janay Rice was published by TMZ, and Goodell and other league officials have said they never saw the video before then, though at least one report that has suggested otherwise.

“When we met with Ray Rice and his representatives, it was ambiguous about what actually happened,” Goodell said during an interview with CBS News that aired Tuesday.

[ESPN]