National Football League

Rams donate to police charity over protest gesture

Published Dec. 11, 2014 3:52 p.m. ET

foxsports

ST. LOUIS (AP) The St. Louis Rams will make a donation to a local police charity after five players' protest over Michael Brown's death in Ferguson drew the ire of local law enforcement officials.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (/bit.ly/1Gi0BkV ) reports the team will present an unspecified amount of money to The Backstoppers group before Thursday's home game against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Backstoppers provides financial assistance to families of police officers, firefighters and paramedics killed in the line of duty.

The move comes after five receivers made the ''hands up'' gesture during pregame introductions at the team's Nov. 30 home game.

That gesture has become the rallying cry of protesters in Ferguson and around the nation after Brown, who was black, was shot and killed in August by a white police officer.