On Monday, police in Florida released bodycam footage of a traffic stop involving Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, who was forcibly removed from his vehicle, pinned to the ground and handcuffed by officers.
The altercation occurred on Sunday, ahead of the Miami Dolphin’s home opener game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the video released by the Miami-Dade Police Department, Hill is seen driving near Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Fla. when he is pulled over by police on motorcycles.
In the bodycam video, an officer knocks on Hill’s driver’s side window to ask why he is not wearing a seatbelt. Hill, 30, tells the officer not to knock on his window, and to issue him a ticket because he is “going to be late.”
“Do what you gotta do,” Hill tells the officer before rolling his window up again.
The officer knocks on the window once more and insists Hill keep it down. They argue very briefly before the officer orders Hill to “get out of the car.”
Hill can be heard on the phone telling his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, that he is “getting arrested.”
Flanked by three other police, the officer opens the door to Hill’s black sportscar and forcibly removes him from the driver’s seat. The officers manoeuvre Hill face-down onto the pavement and hold the football player’s arms behind his body.
Hill is then handcuffed by police while one officer presses a knee to his back.
“When we tell you to do something, you do it, you understand?” the officer shouts in the footage. “Not what you want, but what we tell you. You’re a little f—ing confused.”
As police bring a handcuffed Hill to his feet, another car arrives at the scene, carrying Miami Dolphin teammates Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith. Campbell has said he was also placed in handcuffs while attempting to intervene.
Hill is made to sit on the sidewalk but asks officers to slow down because he “just had surgery on my knee.”
“Did you have surgery on your ears when we told you to put the window down?” one officer quips loudly.
Both Hill and Campbell were released shortly afterwards. NBC reported Hill received citations for reckless driving and driving without a licence.
Smith was also issued a citation.
Once he was permitted to leave, Hill shook hands with several of the officers. The Miami-Dade Police Department said it will continue to investigate the incident.
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One of the officials involved in the traffic stop has been placed on administrative duties as the investigation proceeds, police said on Sunday. The officers involved in the incident have not been named publicly.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said it released the bodycam footage as part of its “commitment to transparency and maintaining public trust.”
‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’
In an interview with NBC News, Hill said his fame may have prevented the situation with police from escalating further.
“If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, Lord knows, I probably would have been, like, worst-case scenario, I would have been shot or would have been locked up,” he said. “It just went from 0 to 60, man, from the moment that those guys pulled up behind me, knocked on my window, it went from 0 to 60 immediately.”
Hill said the officers at the traffic stop were on a “power trip.”
The Miami Dolphins released a statement about Hill’s traffic stop on Monday night and said the team is “saddened by the overly aggressive and violent conduct” directed toward Hill, Campbell and Smith.
“It is both maddening and heartbreaking to watch the very people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force and hostility towards these players, yet it is also a reminder that not every situation like this ends in peace, as we are grateful this one did,” the Dolphins wrote in a statement.
The NFL team said it has a “strong” relationship with the Miami-Dade police and recognizes “the vast majority of officers do serve the community with the utmost character and desire to protect all citizens.”
The Miami Dolphins urged the police department to take “equally swift and strong action” against the officers who exhibited “despicable behaviour” during the traffic stop. Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump shared the bodycam footage to social media and questioned, “Was this use of force really necessary?”
“The body cam footage of Tyreek Hill’s stop and detainment has been released, raising more questions than answers about the Miami-Dade officers’ actions,” Crump wrote on X.
Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said the union is awaiting the conclusion of the internal investigation, but altogether stands by the actions of the officers at the traffic stop.
In a statement released Monday, Stahl said Hill was “uncooperative.”
“First, to be clear, at no time was he ever under arrest,” the statement reads. “He was briefly detained for officer safety, after driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great danger.”
“Once the situation was sorted out within a few minutes, Mr. Hill was issued two traffic citations and was free to leave.”
Hill was able to play in Sunday’s home opener game, which saw the Miami Dolphins triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill caught seven passes for 130 yards and scored a touchdown for the 20-17 win.
After the touchdown, Hill appeared to reference the earlier incident with police when teammate Jaylen Waddle approached him from behind to mime handcuffing Hill.
Hill shared a photo of the touchdown victory to social media with the caption, “Love that sh—.”
Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle of the Miami Dolphins celebrate a touchdown by appearing to reference Hill’s traffic stop on Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami, Fla.
Megan Briggs/Getty Images
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