Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was stopped and detained for reckless driving and driving without a license. When the officer approached his car, after speaking with him, Hill raised his dark tinted window. There was a brief exchange of words. Hill lowered the window part way. An officer dragged Hill out of the car, and then, with several officers involved, Tyreek was placed on the ground and handcuffed. That’s the abridged version. The full report is below.
A teammate, defensive lineman Calais Campbell, later told reporters he was driving by and stopped to try to de-escalate the situation before he was also detained.
One officer, a 25-year police force veteran, was placed on administrative duty and is undergoing an internal investigation.
Allegedly, officers cursed at Hill [more information below], and he said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Hill later said it quickly went from 0 to 60.
Hill and Campbell were released and proceeded to the stadium.
Both sides look pretty bad here.
Tyreek was already hostile at first contact, rolled up dark tint window, creating security issue.
PD went way over the top. A couple cops seemed to have a chip on the shoulder.
No innocent parties here.
Lesson: Just comply with PD next time. https://t.co/BcbyTHVuJz
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) September 9, 2024
AP report:
The officer knocked on the driver’s window and told him to put it down, which Hill did and handed him his driver’s license.
“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill told the officer repeatedly.
“I have to knock to let you know I am here,” the officer told Hill while repeatedly asking why the player didn’t have his seatbelt on.
“Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I am going to be late. Do what you gotta do,” Hill told the officer while putting his darkly tinted window back up.
“Keep your window down,” the officer told him, again tapping on the glass. Hill can still be seen inside.
Hill rolled the window down slightly and said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” He put the window back up.
Rolling the window up is a safety issue.
Hill told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins he did roll his window back up, citing concern about drawing unwanted attention to himself.
“If I let my window down, people walking by, driving by, they’re going to notice that it’s me,” Hill said. “And they’re going to start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to create a scene at all. Like, I just really wanted to get the ticket and then go on about my way.”
The officer again told Hill to put his window back down or “I am going to get you out of the car. As a matter of fact, get out of the car.”
The officer then demanded Hill open the door. Another officer stepped up and said, “Get out of the car, or I will break that … window,” using an obscenity.
The door opened, and the second officer reached in and grabbed Hill by the arm and the back of the head as the player said, “I am getting out.”
The officers handcuffed Hill, and one put a knee in the middle of his back. “If we tell you to do something, do it.”
“Take me to jail, brother, do what you gotta do,” Hill replied.
“We are,” an officer said.
“You crazy,” Hill said to the officer.
The officers stood Hill up and walked him to the sidewalk. One officer told him to sit on the curb. Hill said to the officer he just had surgery on his knee.
An officer then jumped behind him and put a barhold around Hill’s upper chest or neck. He pulled Hill into a seating position.
“Chill, bro,” Hill told the officers.
Jonnu Smith parked his SUV in front of Hill’s car to help. The police told him to leave. When Campbell stopped and wouldn’t leave, the police temporarily handcuffed him.
The Dolphins
The Dolphins, in a statement released Monday night, said they have a strong relationship with the police department but were “saddened” by the altercation.
They want the officers punished and called their behavior “despicable.”
The Police Union
In a statement Monday, South Florida Police Benevolent Association president Steadman Stahl said Hill was never under arrest during the encounter near Hard Rock Stadium shortly before the Dolphins took on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
“He was briefly detained for officer safety after driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great risk of danger,” Stahl said in the statement. “Upon being stopped, Mr. Hill was not immediately cooperative with the officers on scene who, pursuant to policy and for their immediate safety, placed Mr. Hill in handcuffs.”
Videos from passersby showed officers surrounding Hill’s McLaren on the roadway.
South Florida Police Benevolent Association president Steadman Stahl Report
“He was briefly detained for officer safety, after driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great risk of danger,” Stahl said in the statement. “Upon being stopped, Mr. Hill was not immediately cooperative with the officers on scene who, pursuant to policy and for their immediate safety, placed Mr. Hill in handcuffs.”
“They knocked on his window, he rolled it down, said to them you know, ‘do what you need to do as a police officer’ and then he rolled it back up and then they asked him to roll it down again, he cracked it and they told him to get out of the car,” witness Dylan Vega said.
“It looks like Mr. Hill was not willing to take a seat. They were trying to get him to get him to sit on the curb. He would not, there was an officer walking him to the curb trying to get him to sit down and that second officer comes up and took him by the shoulder and redirected him down to the ground to take a seat,” Stahl told NBC6 on Monday.
“Mr. Hill, still uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground and was therefore redirected to the ground,” Stahl said in the statement. “Once the situation was sorted out within a few minutes, Mr. Hill was issued two traffic citations and was free to leave.”
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