According to a TMZ report, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell never requested the surveillance tape from the Casino regarding the Ray Rice incident. Sources at the Revel Hotel and Casino have said that if the NFL had asked, they would have been granted access to the tape. This report is contradictory to an NFL source who claims that the league did in fact put in a request for the tape. TMZ further reports:
An NFL source tells us they requested “any and all information” from law enforcement in the criminal case but got nothing because it was a pending case. But the NFL had other options … namely going to the casino or Rice’s lawyer — but the NFL never bothered to ask.
It appears as if commissioner Goodell, made his initial decision of a 2-game suspension after intentionally turning a blind-eye to all of the evidence involved with the case. Commissioner Goodell and the NFL could have made a request for the video from the Revel Hotel Casino at any time, but decided that it would be better to sit on their hands, then justly processes Ray Rice.
NFL said it asked for Rice video from NJ State police. NJ State Police tells ABC's @JoshMargolin they never had video.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) September 9, 2014
ESPN Darren Rovell reports that the NFL said it asked the NJ State Police for the video, but that the NJ State Police never had the video because they only investigate crimes that take place on the casino floor, the Atlantic City PD investigates everywhere else. The billion dollar corporation that is the NFL, should have known which police department had jurisdiction over this investigation.