Share

Police unions to compensate for Avery Williamson’s fine

Two New Jersey and NY police unions have pledged to pay the fine of Tennessee Titans linebacker Avery Williamson if he wears custom cleats created to honor victims of the 9/11 attacks during a game Sunday.

Advertisement

Colligan said when he first came across the news about the NFL’s plan to fine Williamson for his plan to wear the cleats he “had to read the story twice”.

Williamson, a third-year linebacker out of Kentucky, had planned to wear the airbrushed Nikes for the 15th anniversary of the World Trade Center terror attacks.

The public information officer for the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association reached out to The Tennessean on Saturday morning with the offer to foot the bill for Williamson’s fine.

‘I don’t want to draw negative attention, so I’m just going to focus on playing the game, ‘ Williamson told The Tennessean on Friday. “On September 11, 2001, the PAPD lost 37 police officers at the World Trade Center, the largest, single loss ever suffered by a police department in the history of American law enforcement”, the union said in a statement. I just left it alone.

Two police union honchos are so outraged the National Football League threatened to sack a Titans linebacker for wearing a patriotic pair of cleats honoring those who died on 9/11, they promised to pay his fine if he wears them in Sunday’s game anyway, The Post has learned. “If that’s the way he wants to express himself, that’s the way he’s doing it”.

“They said ‘Why don’t we offer to pay, ‘” Egbert said. Now a police union is vowing to pay the player’s NFL fine if he’ll wear them despite the league’s punishment.

Williamson is instead auctioning the cleats to benefit Operation Warrior Wishes, plus offering a meet and greet, two VIP tickets to a Titans home game and an autographed jersey.

Even as the NFL turns a blind eye to the lengthening list of players protesting America by refusing to stand for the national anthem, the league has chose to crack down on a player who announced his intention to wear cleats to memorialize the vicious terror attacks on September 11, 2001.

Williamson also told the newspaper that several teammates said they too would chip in on the fine if he decides to go forward.

“It can be used for good or bad, either or, but you definitely have a bigger platform than you think”.

Williamson said he chose to pay tribute when he realized the kind of platform NFL players have after Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to bring attention to disparate treatment of minorities by law enforcement.

Advertisement

Nunziato and Patrick Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, said they want Williamson to reconsider wearing the shoes, and their unions will pay his fine if he does.

Police unions slam Goodell, promise to pay player's fine if he wears 9/11 cleats