It is possible to be a “high-character good guy” and have a moment where you snap and do something you regret.
It’s pretty clear that Rice hit his fiancee. The witnesses, the court summons and the face she is unconscious shows that he did something to her, after she did something to him. The question was this a momentary blackout by Rice or something that is normal for the couple?
His attorney probably should stop talking though, because considering he called it a minor incident to begin with, he isn’t doing Rice any favors. Here are his comments to the Baltimore Sun.
“The video that has been put up by TMZ shows the very end of what transpired between Ray and his fiancee,” said Diamondstein, who said he and Rice would “not try this case in the media.”
“We are confident that by the time all of the facts are in the open, the public will have a complete and true picture of what actually transpired, and we just ask that the public remember what a high-character, good person Ray is, and that they reserve judgment until all the facts are out.”
We will see what happens when all the facts come out, but right now the court of public opinion is against Rice. The problem for him is no matter what his fiancee did to him, people will say that a man shouldn’t hit a woman with enough force to knock her out. Unless there is some video footage showing Rice didn’t strike her, that will be hard to overcome.