Baltimore Raven Ray Rice indicted on assault charge

Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice was indicted Thursday on an aggravated assault charge stemming from an altercation with his fiancée at an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino last month, prosecutors said.

Rice was charged with third-degree aggravated assault, a crime that carries a potential penalty of three to five years’ imprisonment, according to Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain.

Rice’s attorney, Michael Diamondstein, could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

Police were called to the Revel Casino and Hotel in the early morning hours of February 15 to respond to a domestic dispute between the Pro-Bowl running back and his girlfriend, Janay Palmer.

“After reviewing surveillance footage it appeared both parties were involved in a physical altercation,” read the Atlantic City Police report.

Both Rice, 27, and Palmer, 26, struck each other with their hands, according to the complaint. Both were arrested on assault charges and released the next morning.

Shortly after the incident, TMZ.com posted surveillance video of a man it said was Rice dragging an apparently unconscious woman from an elevator at the Revel Casino. The video does not show either party striking the other.

Diamondstein confirmed to CNN’s Alexandra Field that the man in the video was indeed his client shortly after TMZ posted it.

“There’s a significant set of facts that the public doesn’t know about yet,” Diamondstein told Field. “As soon as those facts come to light, we believe the public will have a different opinion.”

“No party committed any crime,” Palmer’s lawyer, Robert Gamburg, told CNN at the time. The simple assault against Palmer was dismissed, according to McClain.

“This is part of the due process for Ray,” Baltimore Ravens Director of Media Relations Chad Steele said Thursday of the indictment. “We know there is more to Ray Rice than this one incident.”