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The 30-year-old NFL star said he was “embarrassed” and “shocked” by the situation.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — After Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill rolled down his car window during a pre-game traffic stop Sunday, a police officer grabbed him by the arms and head, dragged him out of his sports car and threw him face-first to the ground, body camera footage released Monday showed.
The video shows an altercation between Miami-Dade County officers and Hill that quickly escalated. The officers yelled profanities at Hill, but Hill did not resist the officers’ violence or attempt to strike them. Hill told one officer, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Body camera footage from six officers was released.
Police Chief Stephanie Davis said the tapes typically aren’t released while an investigation is ongoing, but she wanted to demonstrate the department’s “commitment to transparency and maintaining the public trust.”
In an interview with CNN late Monday night, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was “embarrassed” and “shocked” by the situation.
The video shows two officers pursuing Hill as he appears to speed past him in a McLaren sports car on the clear roads leading into Hard Rock Stadium. Officers later say Hill was going 60 mph (37 kph). The officers activated their lights and pulled Hill over. One of the officers knocked on the driver’s window, instructing him to roll it down, which Hill did, and handed his driver’s license over to the officer.
“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill told the officer multiple times.
“I have to knock to let you know I’m here,” the officer told Hill, before asking him repeatedly why the player wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
“Give me your ticket so I can leave. I’m going to be late. Do what you need to do,” Hill told the officer as she rolled up her dark-tinted window.
“Leave the window open,” the officer tells Hill, tapping on the glass again. Hill is still visible inside the car.
Hill rolled down the window a little and said, “Don’t tell me what to do,” then rolled it back up.
Hill told CNN’s Caitlin Collins that she closed the window because she was worried about attracting unwanted attention.
“If I rolled down my window, people and cars would see me going by,” Hill said, “and they’d start taking pictures. I didn’t want to cause a scene. I just wanted to get a ticket and go on my way.”
The officer again ordered Hill to roll down his window or “I’m going to get you out of the car. Get out of the car, as a matter of fact.”
The officer then demanded that Hill open his door, after which another officer approached and told him, using an obscenity, “Get out of the car or I’m going to break that window.”
The door opened and a second officer entered, grabbing Hill by the arm and the back of his head. He said he was getting off.
Hill later speculated that maybe the officers weren’t moving as quickly as they would have liked.
“I had injuries that kept me from moving as fast as I could,” said Hill, who is starting his ninth NFL season. “I’ve been through a lot. I play a physical sport.”
The second officer shoved Hill face-first to the ground, and as three officers pulled Hill’s arms behind his back, Hill yelled “Drew, you’re under arrest” on his cellphone while speaking with Dolphins security chief Drew Brooks.
The officers handcuffed Hill and one put his knee in the middle of his back, telling him, “If we tell you to do something, do it.”
“Take me to jail, brother, do what you have to do,” Hill responded.
“Yes,” the officer said.
“You’re crazy,” Hill told the officer.
The officers helped Hill to his feet and led him to the sidewalk, where one officer instructed him to sit on the curb. Hill told the officers he had just had knee surgery.
An officer then jumped behind him and used the bar to hold Hill around his upper chest or neck and pull Hill into a sitting position.
“Calm down,” Hill told the officers.
At that moment, teammate Jonnu Smith pulled up in front of Hill’s car, got out and asked what was going on. The officer ordered Smith back to his car and left, telling him he would be fined for blocking the road.
Defensive tackle Calais Campbell was also stopped: he was told to leave but did not comply and was briefly handcuffed.
Hill and Campbell were eventually released and allowed to enter the stadium. Hill was charged with careless driving and not wearing a seat belt, but was never arrested, video shows. One officer was placed on administrative leave. An internal investigation has been launched.
In a statement released Monday night, the Dolphins said they have a strong relationship with the police department but were “saddened” by the incident.
“As the video released tonight makes clear, some officers have a misplaced sense of power and misplaced responsibility,” the team said. “While we commend MDPD for taking the appropriate and necessary steps to swiftly release this footage, we urge them to take equally swift and strong action against any officers who engage in such despicable conduct.”
Stedman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, defended the officers’ actions, saying Hill was not “immediately cooperative” with officers at the scene and that they followed policy to handcuff Hill, but that he refused to sit down and was “forced to the ground.”
Appearing with Hill on CNN, her lawyer, Julius B. Collins, said one officer was the most aggressive, but the other, who approached Hill’s car first, was not aggressive at all. Neither was Hill, Collins added.
“He had his hands up to show he didn’t have a gun. He’s not a threat and he was following the officers’ directions. As far as the police union statements, I think the video contradicts everything they’re saying.”
Hill, who is black, said he wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t been an NFL star. Some of his teammates, who are also black, said the exchanges were familiar.
“I hate telling this story because I have a fanbase of kids,” Hill said. “But the reality is, yes, this is the truth. If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, worst case scenario, it would be a different story. ‘Tyreek Hill gets shot in front of Hard Rock Stadium.’ That’s the worst case scenario. Or ‘Tyreek Hill gets handcuffed, taken away and served with paperwork.'”
This is not the first off-field incident involving Hill.
Hill was kicked off the Oklahoma State University team in college for punching his girlfriend, but later pleaded guilty to domestic assault and assault by strangulation. In 2019, prosecutors in suburban Kansas City did not file charges against him in an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancée and their 3-year-old child.
Hill said Monday he hopes to turn this recent incident into a positive one.
“I’m a good old country guy from South Georgia,” Hill said. “I’m not a big supporter of dividing people.”
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