Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice pleaded not guilty to a charge of third-degree aggravated assault after surveillance video at an Atlantic City casino showed him dragging then-fiancée Janay Palmer seemingly unconscious from an elevator.
Rice, who will enter a pre-trial intervention program for first-time offenders, appeared before the press Friday afternoon to read a prepared statement. “One thing I can say is that sometimes in life, you will fail,” said Rice. “But I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down; it’s not getting up.”
As Yahoo Sports’ Eric Edholm observed, “He used a metaphor about being knocked down in a press conference apologizing for an incident in which he allegedly knocked his wife unconscious. Worst possible choice of words? Confirmed.”
.@RayRice27, sitting with his wife, speaks to the media. #Ravens pic.twitter.com/Ya9dvC4svm
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 23, 2014
Not helping matters was the Twitter feed of the Ravens, which relayed Janay’s apology for her part in the incident.
https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/469918292061061120
@Ravens wtf does that mean? are you serious with this?
— j0hnnymac (@j0hnnymac) May 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/NOTmikeDiCianna/status/469919670108454912
Vomit vomit vomit. RT @Ravens: Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
— Heather Foley (@HotelFoxtrot) May 23, 2014
@Ravens ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Gets uppercut from her husband Ray Rice and she out here saying sorry? Many levels of fucked up Ravens.
— Leineweber???? (@DigitalDaggers) May 23, 2014
This is too much… RT @Ravens: Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
— ?T-Rex? (@RyanTerrana) May 23, 2014
@Ravens Putting part of the blame on the victim? nice.
— Beltway Blues (@BeltwayBluesCIA) May 23, 2014
@Ravens "I'm sorry I was sandbagging to much while being dragged across the floor"
— 40% of Cops Are Wifebeaters (@FanSince09) May 23, 2014
Ugh, anyone else find this wrong? Wow. RT @Ravens: Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
— Derek Havens (@PatriotsHaven) May 23, 2014
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