The Cleveland Browns say they have no plans to release Isaiah Crowell in the wake of a graphic image the running back shared on social media that depicted a police officer being stabbed.
Following the killings of two black men by police last week, Crowell posted a drawn image on Instagram that showed a man dressed in all black with a hood on stabbing an officer in the throat.
“They give police all types of weapons and they continually choose to kill us….#Weak,” Crowell captioned the photo.
The photo is pretty disturbing, so we won’t feature it here. Plenty of Twitter users preserved screenshots after Crowell took it down.
Crowell later issued an apology through the team, calling it an “extremely poor decision” and expressing sympathy for Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the two black men who were shot by police officers, and the five Dallas officers who were killed.
“We have to be better as a society, it’s not about color, it’s about what’s right and wrong,” Crowell wrote, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “I was very wrong in posting that image. Every single life matters, every death as a result of violence should be treated with equal outrage and penalty.”
On Monday, the Browns expressed disappointment in Crowell.
“We have spoken to Isaiah regarding his extremely disturbing and unacceptable social media decision,” a team spokesman said. “It was completely inappropriate and we have made him aware of our high level of disappointment. Isaiah has apologized but also knows that just an apology is insufficient and that he must take steps to make a positive difference after a very negative and impactful post.”
In a poll conducted by Cleveland.com, nearly 70 percent of respondents called for Crowell to face as severe a punishment as possible.
The Browns knew they were taking a risk with Crowell after the trouble he got himself into in college at Georgia. With third-round draft pick Duke Johnson entering his second season, Crowell could still end up being expendable in training camp.
