Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill admitted Wednesday that he could have handled himself better during a weekend traffic stop that left him handcuffed and forcibly removed from his car near the team’s stadium. Hill also expressed a desire for one of the officers involved in the incident to be dismissed from the police force.
Reflecting on the incident, Hill acknowledged he could have done things “a bit differently” that Sunday morning, particularly when he rolled up his car window instead of leaving it down as the officers instructed. This action led to a rapid escalation.
“I will say I could have been better,” Hill conceded. “I could have let down my window in that instant. But the thing about me is, I don’t want attention. I don’t want to be cameras-out, phones-on-you in that moment. But at the end of the day, I’m human. I’ve got to follow rules. I’ve got to do what everyone else would do.”
Hill continued, “Now, does that give them the right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, I wish I could go back and do things a bit differently.”
Miami-Dade Police Director Stephanie Daniels has since launched an internal affairs investigation, with one officer, Danny Torres, transferred to administrative duties. Torres seeks immediate reinstatement, but the Dolphins are demanding “swift and strong action” against all officers involved.
Hill was unequivocal about what he thinks should happen to the officer. “Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He’s gotta go, man. In that instant right there, not only did he treat me bad, but he also treated my teammates with disrespect. He had some crazy words towards them and they didn’t even do nothing. Like, what did they do to you?”
The incident occurred less than three hours before Miami’s Week 1 game, resulting in Hill being pulled from his car, placed on the ground, and handcuffed. Teammate Calais Campbell, who tried to intervene, was also handcuffed. Hill was cited for careless driving and failing to wear a seatbelt.
Hill mentioned he would use this week’s game against the Buffalo Bills as an escape from the ordeal, stating he wouldn’t take a knee or call for defunding the police, emphasizing his respect for law enforcement and his future intentions to work in the field.
Body camera footage released by the Miami-Dade Police Department showed the quick escalation after Hill rolled up his window. In the video, Hill is seen handing his license through a partially opened window and asking the officer to stop knocking before closing it. An officer then pulled Hill out of the car, forced him to the ground, and handcuffed him, with one officer placing a knee on Hill’s back. Hill yelled repeatedly about his recent knee surgery during the incident.
Hill said he was in a movie theater when he learned the footage had been released and hoped it would serve as a learning tool for both civilians and law enforcement.
“It’s shell-shocking, man,” Hill remarked. “It’s really crazy to know that you have officers in this world that would literally do that with bodycams on. It’s sad. It’s really sad. Which brings up another conversation and leads into ‘What would they do if they didn’t have bodycams?’ Which is even crazier.”
Lloyd Howell Jr., executive director of the NFL Players Association, indicated the organization has reached out to Hill and Campbell to provide them with “necessary support,” though specifics were not given.
NBA player Bam Adebayo commented on Hill’s actions, saying Hill should have left his window down and found the subsequent treatment difficult to watch. “For me, it’s the yanking him out of the car, throwing him on the ground, the knee on the back and you can kind of hear him speak but because the officer has such weight on his back, he can barely speak,” Adebayo said. “I don’t ever want to get pulled over and catch a cop on a bad day. It’s a reminder that they don’t care who you are. Some of it escalated to a point where it could have gotten ugly for him. We’ve seen this story a lot, countless times.”
The altercation and the officers’ bodycam footage have reignited discussions about the experiences of Black individuals with police. Hill, who has faced off-field incidents before, received support from teammates who condemned using Hill’s past to justify excessive force. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel noted Hill’s growth as a person and discussed the importance of how Hill handled the situation.
“A conversation about what provoked unnecessary,” McDaniel commented, “is trivial to the unnecessary.”
