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Janay Rice bares what happened when she was knocked cold in elevator

Janay Rice remembers arguing with her then-fiance, former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, but her memory went black shortly before security footage showed Rice punching her.

By Mary Papenfuss
Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was shown on a casino security camera slugging his then-fiancee in the face. Janay Rice said her memory of the incident is "foggy." UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was shown on a casino security camera slugging his then-fiancee in the face. Janay Rice said her memory of the incident is "foggy." UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

BALTIMORE, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Now that Ray Rice has won an appeal to be reinstated in the NFL after he was filmed dragging his unconscious then-fiancee from an elevator, Janay Rice is finally talking about what happened.

She remembers their violent argument at an Atlantic City casino, but then her memory goes blank shortly before she was shown on security camera being punched in the face by the man she would marry the same day he's charged in the assault.

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She recalls earlier being annoyed because it was Valentine's Day and she wanted to be alone with Rice, but he had made plans with two other couples.

Later that night they were "bickering," she tells ESPN. "We were drunk and tired ... none of the six of us can remember exactly what Ray and I were arguing about."

As they were about to get on the elevator, the Baltimore Ravens running back spat at Janay when she grabbed his cell phone, and she slapped him, she recalled.

What happened inside the elevator is "still foggy," she recalls. "The only thing I know — from what Ray has told me — is that I slapped him again and then he hit me. I remember nothing else from inside the elevator.

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"The next thing I do recall is being in the casino lobby, surrounded by cops."

When they were both taken to the local police station, Rice "kept crying and apologizing," she added.

Janay Rice, who has defended her husband, said it's "hard to accept being called a 'victim,' and insists it was the only time Rice has struck her.

"Never in my life have I seen abuse," she added, noting that she has not watched the video showing Rice punching her.

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