12-1-2014
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| Solidarity: St. Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey (12), wide receiver Tavon Austin (11), tight end Jared Cook (89), wide receiver Chris Givens (13) and wide receiver Kenny Britt (81) put their hands up to show support for Michael Brown before Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome |
Furious St Louis cops have demanded that NFL players who made the 'hands up, don't shoot' gesture in solidarity with Ferguson protesters are punished by their superiors.
Officials from the St Louis County Police Association - the police union for the area including Ferguson - said that it was 'profoundly disappointed' in the five players who made the gesture.
Officers released an angry statement saying the players 'ignored mountains of evidence' vindicating Darren Wilson over the shooting of 18-year-old Micheal Brown, for which a grand jury recently declined to indict him.
The statement, given to the KSDK TV station, described the gesture, which protesters have adopted across the nation, as: 'tasteless, offensive and inflammatory'.
It is a reference to witness accounts of the shooting, some of which claim Brown was raising his hands in surrender when he was shot 12 times by Wilson. The accounts have been disputed.
One member of the association was quoted saying: 'It is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.'
The gesture was made by five members of the team: wide receiver Stedman Bailey, wide receiver Tavon Austin, tight end Jared Cook, wide receiver Chris Givens and wide receiver Kenny Britt.
The statement went on: 'All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson.
'...As the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance.
The lengthy message concluded by saying: 'The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology' and threatening to rally police in their condemnation of the team.
A Rams spokesman said on Sunday that the team was not aware the gesture had been planned before the game against the Oakland Raiders.
Read Full Article at Daily Mail
Officials from the St Louis County Police Association - the police union for the area including Ferguson - said that it was 'profoundly disappointed' in the five players who made the gesture.
Officers released an angry statement saying the players 'ignored mountains of evidence' vindicating Darren Wilson over the shooting of 18-year-old Micheal Brown, for which a grand jury recently declined to indict him.
The statement, given to the KSDK TV station, described the gesture, which protesters have adopted across the nation, as: 'tasteless, offensive and inflammatory'.
It is a reference to witness accounts of the shooting, some of which claim Brown was raising his hands in surrender when he was shot 12 times by Wilson. The accounts have been disputed.
One member of the association was quoted saying: 'It is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.'
The gesture was made by five members of the team: wide receiver Stedman Bailey, wide receiver Tavon Austin, tight end Jared Cook, wide receiver Chris Givens and wide receiver Kenny Britt.
The statement went on: 'All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson.
'...As the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance.
The lengthy message concluded by saying: 'The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology' and threatening to rally police in their condemnation of the team.
A Rams spokesman said on Sunday that the team was not aware the gesture had been planned before the game against the Oakland Raiders.
Read Full Article at Daily Mail
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