Harford Sheriff Renounces Ravens After National Anthem Protest

HARFORD COUNTY, MD - After the Baltimore Ravens' performance in London on Sunday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler says he is readying his Ravens gear for the fire. And it's not because Baltimore had its first loss and worst performance of the season, falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 44-7.

"The embarrassment that is the NFL continues and people wonder why I am on strike," Gahler wrote on Facebook Sunday morning. "Ravens join the non sense of taking knee while on the soil of the Country we gained our independence from."

During the first appearance by the Ravens in the NFL's London games, several members knelt during the "Star Spangled Banner" before the 9:30 a.m. kickoff at Wembley Stadium.

Among the Baltimore players taking a knee for the national anthem were Terrell Suggs, Lardarius Webb, Anthony Levine Sr., C.J. Mosley, Willie Henry, Mike Wallace, Tony Jefferson, Tyus Bowser, Tim Williams, Matthew Judon, Marlon Humphrey, Carl Davis and Za'Darius Smith.

"Will be doing a housecleaning of any Ravens merchandise later today and getting it all ready for the burn," Gahler said. (For more local news, get real-time news alerts from Harford County Patches. If you have an iPhone, get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Later, Gahler told Patch that burning the items was an off-the-cuff statement, and he will more than likely throw his Ravens merchandise in the trash. "It will be gone," he said Sunday evening.

Gahler said his "strike" on the NFL started about a year ago "when all the stuff started with the national anthem."

Last season, Colin Kaepernick — who then played for the San Francisco 49ers — would not stand for the "Star Spangled Banner" and said his reason was to protest racial injustice.

Until that point, "I did watch the games pretty religiously," Gahler told Patch. Usually, he had friends over on game days and attended one home game and one away game each year.

"This year I'm not going," he said decisively on Sunday, after the Baltimore players took a knee.

"Here it is in London, on the ground where our nation got its freedom, on the nation we separated from, that's where they chose to make their stand," Gahler said in an interview with Patch. "Irony all around motivated my post" on Facebook, he said.

Within 12 hours, more than 1,400 people shared his post.

"It shows that it's a topic that's meaningful," he said. "Our flag means so much more. We don't have the best history as a country, but we are the best country there is, and the men and women who give their life for this country deserve the best there is."

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President Donald Trump chastised the NFL for what he said was a lack of respect for the American flag, speaking of values during a campaign rally for Republican Senator Luther Strange Friday night in Alabama.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b***h off the field right now, out, he's fired,'" Trump said to the crowd Friday in Huntsville, Alabama. "He's fired!"

On the heels of Trump's comments, several Ravens knelt in London Sunday morning during the "Star Spangled Banner," which was written in Baltimore, then stood for the British anthem "God Save the Queen."

“Sometimes, when you have a platform, you have to do things for the outside world to make a statement," wide receiver Wallace told the BaltimoreRavens.com on Sunday. "You have to take a stand.”

Wallace knelt with a dozen Ravens, while others including head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Joe Flacco stood and locked arms.

"We respect their demonstration and support them 100 percent," Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said in a statement. "All voices need to be heard. That's democracy in its highest form."

The Harford County sheriff says that taking a knee is not a First Amendment issue.

"You see that the NFL regulates and controls every detail," Gahler said. "As employees and on the clock, they have no first amendment [right] to say or do whatever they like. Nor do other fields like law enforcement....Would I allow a police officer to take a knee in uniform? No way."

Continued Gahler: "Any of these men who want to exercise their first amendment off the field and out of uniform, I will defend their right even if I disagree with their message. When suited up and on the clock, they are representing the NFL itself."

In fact, the NFL outlines how its players should act in its personal conduct policy, which states “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL" is prohibited.

"In the NFL, they go to the end zone, they do a little dance and they can get fined," Gahler said.

Players who engage in end-zone dances directed at their opponent or that are deemed offensive, including twerking, can face $12,000 in fines.

"Last year when the five police officers were killed in Dallas, the NFL refused to allow the [Cowboys] to put stickers on their helmets," Gahler noted. "When they're dressed up in their outfit...you don't have the right to free speech."

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin appeared on ABC News on Sunday saying NFL players could have their First Amendment rights "off the field."

It did not appear to have an effect. Last week across the NFL, a total of four players knelt or sat during the national anthem. In the nine early games Sunday, Associated Press reporters counted 102 kneeling or sitting.

The Pittsburgh Steelers skipped the national anthem altogether, remaining in their locker room for a private ceremony related to the flag. The entirety of the team, with the exception of Alejandro Villanueva, who served in the Army, remained inside before the start of the game.

Well over a dozen New England Patriots players took a knee during the national anthem before the start of their game against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium.

Trump again tweeted about the protests on Sunday, suggesting a boycott of the NFL, saying that if fans were to stop attending the games, players would stop kneeling.

Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa and Deb Belt contributed to this report.

Photo of Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler courtesy of the Harford County Sheriff's Office.