Ravens knew almost immediately details in Ray Rice case, ESPN reports

The Baltimore Ravens knew almost immediately that running back Ray Rice had punched his fiancee in the face inside a casino elevator, but hid that information for months, according to an investigative report published Friday by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”

According to the 7,000-word story, Ravens director of security Darren Sanders received a detailed description of what happened in the elevator from an Atlantic City police officer within hours of the February incident.

“Sanders quickly relayed the damning video’s play-by-play to team executives in Baltimore, unknowingly starting a seven-month odyssey that has mushroomed into the biggest crisis confronting a commissioner in the NFL’s 95-year history,” according to the story, written by Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg.

Citing more than 20 unnamed sources — among them team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Assn. representatives and associates, advisers and friends of Rice — ESPN said Ravens President Dick Cass never requested to see the video, which was in possession of Rice’s attorney. Instead, the story says, the Ravens focused on making sure the footage never became public.

The story alleges the Ravens pressured NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to go easy on Rice, giving him no more than a two-game suspension, the penalty the player originally received. ESPN said Ravens executives also pushed for prosecutors to place Rice in the state’s pretrial intervention program, resulting in the charges being dropped.

Late Friday, the Ravens released a statement denying the report: “The ESPN.com ‘Outside the Lines’ article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings. The Ravens will address all of these next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday’s game against the Browns.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com