Rams ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’ Players Should Be ‘Disciplined’ St. Louis Police Claim
The Rams “Hands UP Don’t Shoot” display before the start of a football game on Sunday should be followed by punishment for the players involved, St. Louis police officers maintain. Law enforcement officers upset about the Michael Brown shooting by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson are calling on the NFL to respond to the incident.
St. Louis Police Association members maintain that the Rams players “ignored mountains of evidence” in the Mike Brown shooting case that was presented to the Darren Wilson grand jury. The police officers also said that the St. Louis rams “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” display was an unbecoming act by the hometown NFL football team. The law enforcement group was also quick to point out that both Rams players and fans has requested protection from Ferguson rioters.
The St. Louis Rams “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” display included wide receiver Stedman Bailer, fellow wide receiver Tavon Austin, tight end Jared Cook, and wide receivers Chris Givens and Kenny Britt. The Michael Brown shooting reference occurred before the Rams game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Doe.
A statement by the St. Louis Police Association given to KSKD TV News, deemed the Rams “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” display as “offensive, tasteless, and inflammatory.”
One St. Louis police officer had this to say about the Darren Wilson and Michael Brown reference during the NFL football game.
“It is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.”
Excerpt from the St. Louis Police Association statement about the Rams “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” display.
“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 St. Louis police want the NFL to not only discipline the Rams players involved in the Michael Brown shooting display, but to issue a “very public” apology. The law enforcement group has also noted the possibility of rallying police associations in other cities to join them in their condemnation of the St. Louis Rams. A spokesperson for the NFL team told the media that the team was not aware that the Darren Wilson and Michael Brown shooting reference was going to occur before the Oakland Raiders game.
What do you think about the St. Louis Rams “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” display?
[Image via: NBC News]
