It looks like finding middle ground and a truce between the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis County police department is not going to be easy. The issue began when five St. Louis Rams players walked onto the field before Sunday, Nov. 30's game with their arms making a "hands up, don't shoot" gesture. The police department took extreme offense at the gesture, which was in reference to Darren Wilson's not being indicted in the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Now team officials and the police department are at odds over whether or not an apology was issued.
On Monday, Dec. 1, the Rams's chief operations officer Kevin Demoff reached out to law enforcement to try and make peace. Demoff reportedly told police chief Jon Belmar that he "regretted any offense the officers may have taken and regretted that any members of the [Rams's] organization would act in a way that minimized the outstanding work that police officers and departments carry out each and every day."
Even though Demoff said he never apologized, the chief believed it to be enough of an apology to send an email about the phone call to his staff.
On Monday, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said he believed these five players were simply exercising their free speech rights by making that gesture. Furthermore, none of them will be punished for their hands-up pose or face any sort of discipline from the NFL.
Do you think the players had the right to make their feelings known by making that gesture? The police feared that they would incite more violence in Ferguson by showing their support in such a highly visual way. Were their concerns valid? What would you have done if you were one of the players? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
