AP

There’s no wonder the Ravens were calling an emergency meeting this afternoon.

An investigation by ESPN has uncovered a load of damning facts about the Ray Rice case, which display a level of missteps unimagined.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation in the 7,000-word-plus story by Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg is that the Ravens knew nearly immediately that Ray Rice had punched his wife in the face in the elevator.

According to the report, Ravens director of security Darren Sanders talked to an Atlantic City police officer within hours of the incident. That officer “described in detail to Sanders what he was seeing.”

The litany of mistakes that followed is amazing, but perhaps as incredible as any are the texts Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti sent to Rice moments after he was released (the day the video was made public by TMZ).

“Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay,” the first text read.

“When you’re done with football, I’d like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league,” said the second.

Those two actions, at the beginning and end of the process, give an indication of how deeply flawed this process has been.

Again, this story is more than 7,000 words long. There’s plenty to digest. There will be more.