The fallout from the actions by some Cleveland Browns players at a preseason game has spread beyond Cleveland and now includes members of the Mahoning County Sheriffs Department.

Unions representing Cleveland police and paramedics won't take part in the American flag ceremony before the Cleveland Brown's season opener.

The union's refusal to participate comes after several Browns players knelt during the national anthem before a preseason home game last month.  

The union's leaders say the display has upset their members. 

It also has upset Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene. "The Sheriffs Department has 15 to 20 deputies working up there at any given time during those games. They've been doing it for a while. It's set up as a side job for them," said Greene.

But the sheriff feels there are other ways to make a statement other than our national anthem.  "The bottom line is when they kneeled like that I was done with it. I pulled my officers out of there and they're not permitted to work there anymore," Greene said.

 A statement by the Brown's organization says,  "We have a profound respect for our country's national anthem and flag, at the same time we also respect the great liberties afforded by our country, including freedom of personal expression."

The players knelt only during that one preseason game. The head of the Cleveland Patrolman's Association said that had they continued to kneel at other games he would have advocated for all Cleveland police officers to be pulled from their duties at First Energy Stadium.