Survivors of domestic violence shed light on NFL situation

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Former NFL star Ray Rice is sustaining more fallout from the release of surveillance video showing his attack on his then-fiancee.

The Baltimore Ravens cut him from the team Monday and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after TMZ released the video from inside a casino.

Nike announced Tuesday it has severed its ties with the athlete. And video game publisher Electronic Arts said it is removing the running back from its recently released Madden NFL 15 title.

But his now-wife - Janay Rice -- is still defending her husband in an Instagram post on Tuesday. She slams the media and says the situation feels like a nightmare, but it's her reality.

The unnerving video of the Rice incident has produced at least one positive effect by increasing conversation about domestic violence and how to survive it.

It's an issue that'll affect one in every four women, according to Marjaree Mason Center executive director Genelle Taylor Kumpe. Action News talked to a Valley woman who chose to leave even though it very nearly cost her her life.

With a vicious left to his fiance's face, Ray Rice prompted universal disgust. For Fresno County district attorney-elect Lisa Smittcamp, the act is all too familiar, as is the fact Rice waited until the elevator doors closed before launching his attack.

"He waited until they were alone," she said. "He waited until he thought nobody could see what he was doing. That just shows you he has the mindset of an offender, of a domestic violence offender, because he was feeling out of control and he wanted to assert his power and he did that."

Smittcamp led Fresno County's domestic violence prosecutors for years and saw several violent videos. She says domestic violence starts in the mind and the mouth, with abusers creating a mentality that if a victim gets hit, she deserved it. Echoes of the mindset are pouring out over social media under the hashtag "#WhyIStayed".

"I let him convince me I'm the one who turned him into the monster he'd become," she read from a Twitter post.

Smittcamp says she's heard #WhyIStayed stories hundreds of times. Marjaree Mason employees hear them every day.

"Leaving a domestic violence relationship is a very difficult thing," said Kumpe, the executive director. "The victims have a lot of fear and they stay for their own varying reasons."

Janay Rice expressed a similar feeling days after she got knocked out.

"I do deeply regret the role I played in the incident," she said during a May 2014 press conference with her husband.

Domestic violence survivor Rachel Baskin gave Action News a real life version of #WhyIStayed. She stayed with her husband because of love, despite escalating mental and financial abuse.

"I was his slave," she said. "I did everything he wanted and I kind of felt like if I was a better wife or a better lover or a better mother, then everything would be fine."

Baskin realized she had to leave when the abuse continued in front of her daughter. She knew it was setting the wrong example of how love should look.

The Rices also share a young daughter, so Baskin sympathizes with the victim, knowing if the cycle of violence isn't broken, things can get much worse.

"You can risk your life and that's what I had to do," she said. "I knew, do or die, I have to get out."

Getting out literally almost led to Baskin's death. In 2009, her husband drove from Camp Pendleton to Reedley and tried to murder Rachel, her mother, and her brother.

All three survived the attack and Dejon Baskin is now serving three life sentences. Five years later, Rachel is engaged to another man and happily raising her daughter.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence and would like help, you can call the Marjaree Mason Center in Fresno. The 24- hour crisis hotline is 559-233-help.