On Monday, the Batimore Ravens announced the termination of running back Ray Rice, just hours after a video of Rice in February punching the woman who is now his wife surfaced online.

The team made the announcement via Twitter.

"The #Ravens have terminated RB Ray Rice's contract this afternoon," the tweet said.

No further information was released by the team, but Coach John Harbaugh will hold a press conference at approximately 8 p.m. on Monday, USA Today reports.

On Monday, TMZ released a video of Rice, now 27 years old, punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer in an elevator of an Atlantic City hotel in February. Rice is then seen dragging Palmer's body out of the elevator.

Shortly after the Ravens' Twitter post, Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, announced that Rice is indefinitely suspended because of the newly obtained video footage.

In March, Rice was charged with felony assault, but his wife refused to testify, New York Times reports. Rice then entered a pretrial intervention program that, if completed, would dismiss his third-degree aggravated assaults charges, according to USA Today.

The NFL was criticized for suspending Rice for just two games before, but on Monday, the NFL said that the video changes things.

"We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator," a statement by an NFL spokesman said. "That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today."

Rice had three years left on his five-year-long contract with the Ravens. He joined the team in 2012, helping them win a Super Bowl Championship in the same year. The athlete's "$4 million base salary for this season wasn't guaranteed," USA Today reports, but the team will have to "absorb $14.25 million in cap hits over the next two seasons for cutting him."

Rice has previously apologized publicly with his wife next to him.

Watch the graphic footage that cost Rice his job below:


Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar

.

Related