The president of a Minneapolis police union Tuesday commended a quartet of officers who reportedly walked off their jobs providing security at a WNBA game on Saturday night after some players wore “Black Lives Matter” shirts calling for change after recent police shootings.
(FOX)- The black warmup T-shirts read “Change Starts with Us — Justice & Accountability” on the front. The back of the shirts bore the names of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, two black men recently shot by police in a pair of controversial incidents. “Black Lives Matter” was also printed on the back, just below a replication of the Dallas police shield. An anti-cop gunman shot and killed five Dallas officers on Thursday.
The four officers in Minnesota were off-duty when they left their security positions, according to Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation. “I commend [the officers] for it,” he said.
Kroll told The Minneapolis Star Tribune that the officers, who were not identified, also removed themselves from consideration to work future games at the Target Center for the Lynx.
“Others said they heard about it and they were not going to work Lynx games,” he said. Kroll said because the officers were on an “independent contract” they could start or quit an off-duty gig whenever they wanted. A police spokesman and representatives for the Lynx and Target Center did not immediately comment about the incident to The Star Tribune.