--- title: St. Louis Police Condemn Rams 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Display description: 'Violent thugs' don't buy NFL products, warns St. Louis Police business manager canonical: https://time.com/3611556/st-louis-cops-rams-hands-up-dont-shoot-nfl-ferguson/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-01T15:06:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:52.513Z article:section: Sports og:title: St. Louis Police Condemn Rams 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Display og:description: 'Violent thugs' don't buy NFL products, warns St. Louis Police business manager og:url: https://time.com/3611556/st-louis-cops-rams-hands-up-dont-shoot-nfl-ferguson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116e98a04240a219/69876b83428a9e4a71cc5aea/rtr4g5i2.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: NFL: Oakland Raiders at St. Louis Rams og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: St. Louis Police Condemn Rams 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Display twitter:description: 'Violent thugs' don't buy NFL products, warns St. Louis Police business manager twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt116e98a04240a219/69876b83428a9e4a71cc5aea/rtr4g5i2.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # St. Louis Cops Condemn Rams' 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Gesture > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 1, 2014 3:06 PM UTC  Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) puts his hands up to show support for Michael Brown before a game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on Nov. 30, 2014. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin (11) puts his hands up to show support for Michael Brown before a game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on Nov. 30, 2014.Jeff Curry—USA Today Sports/Reuters  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 1, 2014 3:06 PM UTC The St. Louis Police Department condemned St. Louis Rams football players who ran onto the field Sunday night with their arms raised in the “hands-up, don’t shoot” pose. The gesture has been seen in demonstrations across the nation this week in the wake of the Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict a white cop for shooting and killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown in August. “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,” the police said in a [statement. ](http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/11/30/stl-police-officers-association-condemns-rams-display/19721979/) The police said that the “hands up, don’t shoot” 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.” ### See Athletes Who Have Taken a Stand on Political Issues  African-American track team members Tommie Smith (C) and John Carlos (R) raised gloved Black Power fists as during the medal ceremony of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Both Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team, and both received death threats. "We knew that what we were going to do was far greater than any athletic feat," Carlos reportedly said at the time. Both are now in the Hall of Fame. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  In this image posted to Miami Heat basketball player LeBron James' Twitter account in 2012, Miami Heat players wear team hoodies to protest the killing of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman. (LeBron James via Twitter-- AP Photo) AP  Sweden's Moa Hjelmer sports rainbow nails at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia, to protest Russia's laws prohibiting gay "propaganda." (Martin Meissner-- AP) Martin Meissner—AP  Egyptian soccer player Ahmed Abdul Zaher shows a four-finger sign, widely known as a gesture of support for ousted Islamsist President Mohammed Morsi, after scoring a goal on November 10, 2013\. He was suspended from the team and from the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco after flashing the sign of support, and his team looked into trading him. (Desouki--AFP/Getty Images) Khaled Desouki—AFP/Getty Images  In 2010, the Phoenix Suns wore jerseys emblazoned with "Los Suns" on Cinco de Mayo, in response to an anti-immigration law recently passed in Arizona. (Christian Petersen--Getty Images) Christian Petersen—Getty Images  Los Angeles Clippers players wore their warmup jerseys inside out to protest racist remarks by team owner Donald Sterling on April 27, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez--AP Photo) Marcio Jose Sanchez—AP  St. Louis Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin raised his arms in the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture to show support for Michael Brown, before a game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome. (Jeff Curry--USA TODAY Sports) Jeff Curry—USA Today Sports/Reuters  Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center on Dec. 8, 2014, in New York. Kathy Willens—AP Protesters around the country have been raising their arms in the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture to protest the grand jury’s decision not to indict now-former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown, who did not have a weapon on him, multiple times. Massive demonstrations in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. have included thousands of people making the gesture in solidarity with the Brown family and to draw attention to the larger issue of racial profiling. Jeff Roorda, the business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, was especially incensed by the Rams, noting that the team and the NFL depended on the police to keep fans safe from violent protesters. “I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said in a statement. “Well I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. 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. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.” A spokesman for the St. Louis Rams told [KSDK.com](http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/11/30/stl-police-officers-association-condemns-rams-display/19721979/) that the team did not know about the demonstration beforehand. ### See 23 Key Moments From Ferguson  On Aug. 9, 2014, unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. This image provided by KMOV-TV shows investigators inspecting Brown's body. Tiffany Mitchell—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Brown's mother, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, on Aug. 9, 2014, after her son's death Huy Mach—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A fire burns at a QuikTrip store in Ferguson on Aug. 10, 2014, as protests turned violent one day after Brown's death. The night marked the first violent turn for the protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Heavily-armed police advance on a protester on Aug. 11, 2014\. Law enforcement's tactical response, which included military-grade weapons, tanks and SWAT teams, touched off a debate over the militarization of local police forces. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux  A protester takes shelter from billowing smoke during demonstrations in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014\. Such scenes were relatively common during the first week of protests. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT/Zuma Press  Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol addresses the media in Ferguson on Aug. 15, 2014\. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed NIxon to coordinate law enforcement's response after local departments were criticized for fanning the flames. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Darren Wilson at a Ferguson city council meeting on Feb. 11, 2014\. The image was the first widely-circulated photo of Wilson after the shooting. City of Ferguson/AP  Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air during a demonstration in Ferguson on Aug. 17, 2014\. The "hands up, don't shoot" pose became the defining gesture of the protests. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police in Ferguson fire tear gas in the direction of bottle-throwing crowds on Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch / Polaris  Law enforcement officers look on during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson on Aug. 18, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appeared with Capt. Ron Johnson at Drake's Place Restaurant in Ferguson on Aug. 20, 2014\. Holder's visit was meant to calm tensions after almost 10 days of protests. Pablo Martinez Monsivais—Pool/Getty Images  An anguished Michael Brown, Sr. yells as his son's casket is lowered into the ground at St. Peter's Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 25, 2014. Richard Perry—Reuters  Members of the Ferguson Police Department wear body cameras during a rally on Aug. 30, 2014, in Ferguson. Like a number of departments around the U.S., Ferguson police began using the wearable cameras after Michael Brown was killed. There are no video recordings of the incident involving Brown and officer Darren Wilson. Aaron P. Bernstein—Getty Images  A fire on Sept. 23, 2014 burned a memorial for Michael Brown on the site where he was killed. The memorial was later rebuilt. Jacob Crawford—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, left, addresses protesters in front of the Ferguson Police Department, on Sept. 25, 2014\. Protesters have called for Jackson to resign. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Demonstrators participate at a rally on the campus of St. Louis University on Oct. 13, 2014\. Citizens around St. Louis continued to demonstrate throughout October, including during a performance by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Academic Cornel West is taken into custody after performing an act of civil disobedience at the Ferguson, Mo., police station on Oct. 13, 2014. Charles Rex Arbogast—AP  Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother, attends a press conference addressing the U.N. Committee Against Torture, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 12, 2014\. Brown's parents testified in front of the committee about their son's death. Martial Trezzini—EPA  After the announcement that the grand jury brought no charges against Darren Wilson, police officers and protesters faced off on a tense night in which cars and buildings were burned by protesters and tear gas thrown by police, in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 24, 2014. Jim Young—Reuters  On March 4, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice released two reports clearing Officer Wilson of any civil rights violations when he shot and killed Brown but found a pattern of explicit racism and unfair treatment of minorities by Ferguson police officers and local officials. Carolyn Kaster—AP  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson stepped down March 11, 2015, after a federal report harshly criticized the police department, becoming the sixth Ferguson official to resign since the investigation. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Two police officers were shot outside the Ferguson Police Department March 12, 2015, during a demonstration that followed the resignation of the agency’s embattled police chief. The two officers—one from Webster Groves, Mo., the other from St. Louis County—were seriously injured. 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