“Pinellas County’s top cop condemned the Tampa Bay Rays for posting a tweet calling for the arrests of the Louisville, Ky., police officers who killed Breonna Taylor” reports the Tampa Bay Times.
Today is Opening Day, which means it's a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 24, 2020
“Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times that he called Rays president Matt Silverman on Sunday to express his displeasure. ‘To turn a baseball event into a political event is uncalled for,’ Gualtieri said. ‘It’s just wrong, and it’s improper. It’s just reckless. It’s throwing gasoline on the fire, and it didn’t need to happen.’ The Republican sheriff, who is up for reelection in November, said it’s inappropriate for the team to opine on the Taylor case, which has drawn national scrutiny, when team officials ‘don’t know all the facts.’ The sheriff added that he’ll reevaluate whether his agency will assist the Rays with matters such as traffic control or security. Typically, the St. Petersburg Police Department provides those services, but Gualtieri said his deputies guard the stadium room where concessions money is kept and that his agency occasionally helps with other tasks.”