Ray Rice Video Was Sent To The NFL In April, Law Enforcement Official Says

The unnamed official told the AP that he sent the video of Ray Rice hitting his then-fiancée to NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller.

Ray Rice, left, and NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller, right.

A law enforcement official said that in April he sent the NFL a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The official, who was not named, told the AP he sent the video annonymously and addressed it to NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller. It included a note with a message about the contents: "Ray Rice elevator video. You have to see it. It's terrible."

Miller issued a statement to BuzzFeed News Thursday denying that he received the video before it went public:

"I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8."

The package with the video also included a number to a disposable cellphone, the official said, along with a request for confirmation that it had arrived. However, the only response he got was from an unnamed woman at the NFL offices, who said the league received the video. The official did not know if MIller ever watched the video.

The report potentially delivers a blow the the NFL's claims that the league didn't see the video until TMZ published it in early September.

The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have been widely criticized for their handling of the Rice case. Rice — who in February was a running back with the Baltimore Ravens when he hit his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator — was initially suspended for two games. The suspension later became indefinite after the video surfaced, and in the ensuing uproar many have called for Goodell's ouster.

However, Goodell and the NFL have repeatedly insisted that they didn't see the video until September. The law enforcement official had previously said he sent the video to the NFL, but only just now revealed that he addressed it to Miller. According to the AP, the official chose Miller because he has a law enforcement background.

The AP report Thursday adds that it's unclear what happened to the video after it arrived at NFL headquarters.

Goodell also has said the NFL requested the video, but the law enforcement official told the AP he never received any request from the league: "I want to make a few things clear. No one from the NFL ever asked me for the inside-elevator video."

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