Five ST. Louis Ram Players Display “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” Gesture Before Game with Raiders … SLPOA Condemns Rams Display … “Tasteless, Offensive and Inflammatory” (Update: NFL Says No Fines)(Update: Rams & Police Battle Over Apology)

Who wants to tell these fools that “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” was a lie?

The NFL gets another black eye. Before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders, members of the St. Louis Rams came out during pregame introductions with their hands up as they entered the field at the Edward Jones Dome in solidarity with the ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ movement. Really?  A St. Louis Rams spokesman said the team was unaware of the demonstration before the game. However, the St. Louis Police Officers Association was none too happy with these actions and condemned the St. Louis Rams football players who entered the field displaying the “hands up don’t shoot.” Too bad it was a contrived false narrative made up by the MSM.

Wide receivers Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt and tight end Jared Cook all took the field displaying the gesture, which mimics the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” stance that has become a frequent image among protesters since the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in nearby Ferguson, Mo. in August.

While the players and Rams have not yet confirmed whether the gesture was related to the recent protests after a prosecutor’s decision Monday not to indict Wilson, a number of other athletes did respond to the news from Ferguson via social media and in interviews earlier this week.

Statement from St. Louis Police Officers Association:

“St. Louis, Missouri (November 30, 2014) – The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.

“Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the “hands-up-don’t-shoot” pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown. The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.

“SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda said, “now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson’s account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eye-witness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.”
(more)

Police Officers Association: Rams Players Need to be Disciplined for ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Gesture.

“No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change.”

Coach Jeff Fisher said he’d not been aware the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” gesture had been planned by the players, all of them black.

Wide receivers Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt came out together first, with the move obscured by a smoke machine in the upper reaches of the Edward Jones Dome. Cook, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens then came out and stood together with hands raised in the fog.

Some witnesses said Michael Brown had his hands up before being fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson in August. Brown had been unarmed.

“I don’t want the people in the community to feel like we turned a blind eye to it,” Britt said. “What would I like to see happen? Change in America.”

UPDATE I: NFL Will not Fine Players … sides with thuggery.

Keep it up NFL and you will become the NBA real fast. You already went soft on domestic abuse, now you thumb your nose at the very individuals who keep our streets safe. Pathetic.

The NFL will not adhere to a request from the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association to discipline St. Louis Rams players who did the “hands up, don’t shoot” pose used by protesters in Ferguson, Mo. during pre-game introductions on Sunday.

“We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports.

The police officer’s association issued a letter late Sunday condemning the players’ actions as “tasteless, offensive and inflammatory” given a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown.

UPDATE II: NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement, “We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation.”

“So we wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world.”

Well, cops in St. Louis County wouldn’t have minded being told they were doing a heck of a job, too – what with trying to keep criminals from burning down businesses and generally running riot with the same “hands up, don’t shoot” attitude the players brought to the field with them on Sunday.

And in case geniuses like Cook et al didn’t realize it, the fan base of the NFL is at bottom middle-class America, the kind of people – white and black – who don’t appreciate rioting as some kind of art form for social justice.

That something the police union is trying to make them aware of.

“I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play,” the union’s statement said.

“If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”

A lot of those cops, and they’re supporters, were Rams fans until Sunday.

UPDATE III: St. Louis County police, Rams spar over reported apology.

Why is it so difficult to apologize for the St. Louis Rams? If some thing had been done to offend blacks in any way I am sure there would be an apology.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association was furious, saying the players “chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury” after the jurors decided not to indict former Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson.

A Rams official spoke with police Monday. And that’s when the he-said, he-said started.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar sent an e-mail to his staff saying the Rams’ chief operating officer called him Monday to apologize.

“I received a very nice call this morning from Mr. Kevin Demoff of the St. Louis Rams who wanted to take the opportunity to apologize to our department on behalf of the Rams for the “Hands Up” gesture that some players took the field with yesterday,” Belmar wrote in the e-mail, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

But the Rams said that’s just not true.

“We did not apologize,” Rams spokesman Artis Twyman told CNN.