For those that haven't seen the video of Simmons hitting the woman, here is a link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...punching-WOMAN-repeatedly-head-lay-floor.html
He did it while he was a senior in high school, and it didn't look very damaging, if at all. He was standing, bent at the waist, she was lying face down. The view is partially obscured, but it looked like she was covering up, or partially covering up. He punched her maybe five or six times, fast, rat-a-tat-tat, with no leverage or power on the punches. Others may view this differently after seeing the video, but it looked to me like he was more trying to subdue the lady with those punches, than to really hurt her.
Apparently the victim was at the housing complex where Simmons and his family lived. The victim's nine year old daughter and Simmon's ten year old sister got into an argument. The victim and her daughter were apparently trying to leave, and were in their car. Another of Simmon's sisters pulled the 30 year old victim from the car, and assaulted her, putting her on the ground. My understanding is pretty sketchy, but that is apparently where the video picks up--with Simmons hitting the woman. Simmons hits her for maybe two seconds and walks away. Another lady (related to Simmons? Sister? Mom?) starts attacking the lady, who is still on the ground. Simmons comes back after five or ten seconds and gives a half-hearted, completely ineffectual effort to pull the woman away from the lady on the ground.
I saw another article that had the apology Simmons wrote--he said he wasn't thinking--his family was under attack and he had the instinct to protect them. He sounded regretful, and I'm guessing he really is. It was an incredibly stupid and unnecessary thing to do.
Of the two people attacking the woman, Simmons and the lady, it is pretty close as to who is more damaging. My guess is the lady did more damage than Simmons. The article said the victim suffered head and neck injuries, but it looked to me like her dignity suffered more than her head and neck. She got up immediately when the lady stopped assaulting her.
The type of punches Simmons threw are worlds different than the punch Ray Rice threw when knocked the lady unconscious in the elevator. That was really damaging. I'm not condoning what Simmons did, but it was considerably less severe than what Rice did.