A group of Missouri police officers is demanding the St. Louis Rams be punished after their players raised their hands in solidarity to Michael Brown before the start of Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.
The NFL said it will not discipline Jared Cook, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, and Chris Givens for raising their arms in the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gesture synonymous with the Ferguson protests, during Sunday's pregame introductions.
"It's a brush-off," Missouri state Rep. Jeff Roorda, business manager of the St. Louis City Police Officers Association, said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"It's offensive to the members that I represent and the much broader community that supports police officers.
"We've heard from this very loud violent minority of people who want to perpetuate this myth of Darren Wilson gunning down Michael Brown in cold blood as he was attempting a peaceful surrender."
Compounding the NFL's decision is its history of penalizing players on various minor infractions.
"This is a sports league that penalizes teams and fines players for spiking the ball or for doing silly end zone dances. Yet, this very public, political display on the field is somehow OK," Roorda said.
"I don't buy that and cops around the country don't buy it either. It's perpetuating a myth that we find to only inflame things not help us move forward from this situation."
"This notion that the police have done something wrong here was rejected by a jury … "
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