New video surfaced on Monday showing police officers forcefully removing Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill from his car and throwing him to the ground during a heated traffic stop before his team’s home opener on Sunday.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said it was releasing the available bodycam footage while continuing to investigate the incident. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump posted a clip from the footage on X.
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. Was this use of force really necessary? pic.twitter.com/QvMnEJODPu
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) September 9, 2024
The video begins with a police officer asking Hill through his open car window why he did not have his seat belt on. After a brief exchange Hill rolls up his window up and the officer knocks on it, ordering him to roll it down. Hill partially rolls the window down and the officer tells him to get out of the car. Another officer comes over, opens the car door and grabs Hill by the back of the head, forcing him face down on the pavement as he puts him in handcuffs with a knee pressed against his back.
Officers then pick the still-handcuffed Hill back up and lead him to the sidewalk, where they ask him to sit. Hill asks them to slow down because he “just had surgery on my knee” as an officer grabs him from behind around the neck and forces him into a seated position on the curb.
The officers also appear to doubt Hill’s surgery. “Oh really? What a coincidence,” one of the officers says to Hill. “Did you have surgery on your ears when we told you to put the window down?”
The Miami-Dade Police Department on Sunday opened an investigation into the matter and one of the officers involved in the incident has been placed on administrative duties while the review is conducted.
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“I was shocked,” Hill told CNN on Monday. “It was crazy because it all happened so fast. I couldn’t really gather everything. Me being a father, me being a husband in that situation I was saying hey, I’ve got to be smart.”
The Miami Dolphins responded to the video with a statement posted on X that described the police action as “maddening and heartbreaking”, calling for “swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior … It is a reminder that not every situation like this ends in peace… ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ is a question that will carry with resounding impact,” the team said.
Julius B Collins, Hill’s attorney, said the receiver’s legal team is exploring all options and called the officers’ actions “excessive.”
“Mr Hill understands the inherently dangerous job that law enforcement is tasked with and understands that officer safety is important;” read Collins’ statement, “however, at no point in time did Mr Hill pose a threat to these officers.”
Hill spoke to NBC Nightly News about the incident on Monday. “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,” he said.
He also wondered what would have happened to him if he wasn’t an NFL star. “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” and “put behind bars, you know, for a simple speeding ticket,” Hill said.
Some of Hill’s teammates echoed those sentiments. “Excessive force on a Black man, that’s not uncommon,” said Miami safety Jevon Holland. “It’s a very common thing in America. So I think that needs to be addressed at a countrywide level.”
Earlier on Monday before any footage of the incident had circulated, a union representing the Miami-Dade officers said that Hill did not cooperate when he was stopped near the Dolphins’ stadium for driving in a manner that was “putting himself and others in great risk of danger”.
Hill was placed in handcuffs for the officers’ safety, Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement.
“Mr Hill, sill uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground and was therefore redirected to the ground. Once the situation was sorted out within a few minutes, Mr Hill was issued two traffic citations and was free to leave,” said Stahl.
Stahl added that the union would wait for the investigation to run its course but, based on the information available, said it was standing by the actions of its officers.
Collins said the police union’s statement did not line up with what is in the video. “I think the video contradicts everything they are saying,” he said on CNN.
Hill went on to play in Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which kicked off just hours after his detainment. He appeared to reference the incident after scoring an 80-yard touchdown, celebrating with his arms behind his back as if he was in handcuffs.
Hill is one of the best receivers in the NFL, and has been named to the Pro Bowl in every season since he entered the league in 2016. He led the league in receiving last season with a career high 1,799 yards. He won the Super Bowl with his previous team, the Kansas City Chiefs, in February 2020. He was traded to the Dolphins in March 2022 and signed a four-year, $120m contract extension that makes him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.
Sunday’s incident wasn’t the first time Hill has come into contact with Miami-Dade police. Last offseason, Hill was under investigation by the department for assault and battery after it was reported that he got into an argument with a marina worker, which apparently ended with Hill hitting the worker. Hill and the man later resolved their dispute.
