Players Coalition pleads for police to be 'courageous,' accountable

The NFL's Players Coalition is calling on law enforcement to be more accountable following the recent deaths of George Floyd and other African-Americans.

"To the many, many good law enforcement officers, we need you now more than ever," the group wrote Saturday in a statement. "We need you to implement real, structural change to law enforcement accountability in this country.

"We need you to be more courageous and neither be silent nor complicit in the misconduct of your peers. We need leaders who are willing to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard of integrity befitting of a public servant."

Floyd died Monday in Minneapolis after a police officer held his knee against the man's neck for nearly nine minutes. Four days later, after public outrage and protests, the officer - who is a white man - was arrested. Riots have broken out across the country in support of Floyd.

"Officer Derek Chauvin's personnel file is riddled with complaints - 18 of them, in fact," the statement says. "If the right people had been watching, listening, and acting, George Floyd might still be breathing today."

In the document, the Players Coalition also asks the Supreme Court to eliminate qualified immunity.

"That doctrine, created by you, protects police officers who have engaged in extremely violent, egregious misconduct from civil suits," the group noted. "You are considering over a dozen cases right now, and you can change this doctrine. Right now, you are enabling a culture where officers know there will be no consequences for bad behavior."

Anquan Boldin, Malcolm Jenkins, and Byron White founded the Players Coalition in 2017. The group works to change social inequality and bring awareness to the issue.

The entire statement can be viewed here.

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