Steelers' Minkah Fitzpatrick not happy about putting the name of alleged drive by shooter’s on back of helmet, blames ‘upstairs’

The Antwon Rose social justice helmet sticker drama in Pittsburgh took another turn on Thursday when safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said the sticker decision “came from upstairs.” Fitzpatrick told Pittsburgh Tribune-Review sports reporter Chris Adamski that the players “briefly” discussed the name that would appear on their helmets this season.

“We talked briefly about it, but it was mostly made by people upstairs,” Fitzpatrick said. “Don’t know exactly who. Don’t know exactly how. We knew we were going to have somebody on the back of our helmets. It wasn’t exactly clear who it was going to be.”

“It was mostly made by everyone upstairs.” It’s unclear who “everyone upstairs” is referring to and the Steelers have yet to make it known who ultimately made the decision to honor Rose.

Fitzpatrick’s comments came on the same day Steelers offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey released a statement saying he’d “inadvertently supported a cause of which I did not fully comprehend the entire background of the case” by wearing Rose’s name on his helmet.

The Steelers announced Monday the team would be wearing Rose’s name on the back of their helmets for the entire 2020 season, but now there appears to be a level of uneasiness as players are starting to become aware of the Rose story.

In June 2018, 17-year-old Rose was a passenger in a car that was pulled over after being identified as being involved in a drive-by shooting. East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld pulled over the car, which showed signs of bullet holes, and was in the process of handcuffing the driver, who turned out to be an unlicensed cabbie, when Rose and fellow passenger Zaijuan Hester started running. Rosfeld would later testify he thought one of the two pointed a gun at him and he shot Rose.

Rose was found to have gunshot residue on his hands and an empty 9-millimeter magazine in his pocket. Police said the magazine matched a stolen 9mm found under the seat where Rose was sitting in the car. The victim of the drive-by shooting told police it was Rose who shot him. “The beef was between me and him, that car came by, he shot me, I ran to the store.” Video of the drive-by shooting would later show the shots came from a backseat where Hester was sitting, according to police. Hester eventually plead guilty to the drive-by and was sentenced to 6-22 years in prison.

The Rosfeld homicide trial would last four days and the jury, which included three people of color, deliberated for four hours before finding the police officer not guilty.

Key to the case was Pennsylvania law that states, “a peace officer, or any person whom he has ... (Read more)

Tweets mentioned:

https://twitter.com/C_AdamskiTrib/status/1306666100688646144

Latest News