Three days after Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was detained and handcuffed by police before his team’s season opener Sunday, the NFL star said he could have been more cooperative during the traffic stop. Hill also said one of the officers involved in his detainment should be fired.
“Yes, I will say I could have been better. I could have let down my window in that instant,” Hill told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. “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.”
Could Tyreek Hill have done anything differently? VIDEO pic.twitter.com/IlewZ4xNoe
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) September 11, 2024
Hill was pulled over Sunday while driving down a street leading to the Dolphins’ stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Body-camera footage of the incident released Monday by Miami-Dade police showed the exchange between officers and Hill escalated quickly.
Hill handed his license to the officer who stopped him and said: “Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I’m going to be late. Do what you’ve got to do.” After that comment, Hill rolled his window back up, prompting the officer to ask him to keep it down. Soon after, the officer raised his voice and repeated the command before telling Hill: “As a matter of fact, get out of the car. Get out of the car right now. We’re not playing this game.”
The 30-year-old was dragged out of his car and forced face-first onto the ground. Hill, who at one point said, “Don’t tell me what to do,” did not resist the officers’ physical force. Later, when officers moved Hill to the sidewalk and attempted to sit him down, he protested that he just had surgery on his knee.
Hill later told CNN he rolled his window back up to avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself from passersby. “If I let my window down, people walking by, driving by, they’re going to notice that it’s me,” he said. “And they’re going to start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to create a scene at all. I just really wanted to get the ticket and then go on about my way.”
He was released from police custody after about 30 minutes and helped lead the Dolphins to a 20-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars later Sunday.
In the aftermath of the incident, an attorney for Hill and the South Florida Police Benevolent Association released statements offering differing versions of the encounter. Hill’s legal team said Monday it believed “this matter was escalated due to overzealous officers attempting to impose their authority,” while the head of the police union described Hill as “uncooperative.”
Dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel on Wednesday said of his initial reaction of the body-camera footage, “It wasn’t shock; it was sadness.”
The Fritz Pollard Alliance, a diversity group that works closely with the NFL on its hiring practices, in a statement Wednesday said it “strongly condemns the actions of the Miami-Dade police officers who on Sunday engaged Tyreek Hill, Calais Campbell, and Jonnu Smith in a violent, threatening, and demeaning manner. These three men experienced what scores of black and brown people across the country have experienced when interacting with police and what scores more fear. Thankfully, on this occasion, nobody was seriously hurt. Were Hill, Campbell, and Smith not ultimately recognized as NFL players, the outcome may have been dire.”
In Hill’s comments Wednesday, he said he has since spoken with family members who are police officers and reflected on the incident with his family. When asked about his emotions, he said he is “good” and “unfazed by it because I’m not the only one that goes through that.”
Hill added that he had a minor stem cell procedure performed on his knee in Antigua — in reference to the knee surgery he mentioned during his detainment.
Earlier Wednesday, Hill’s attorney Julius Collins called for the dismissal of Miami-Dade police officer Danny Torres, whom he accused of at least twice putting his hands “on or around Mr. Hill’s neck.” Torres, a 27-year veteran of the department, was placed on administrative duty after the incident.
“Each action that a law enforcement official [takes] is governed by standard operating procedures,” Collins said in a statement to CNN. “We are of the opinion that the officer’s use of force was excessive, escalating, and reckless. We are demanding that the officer be terminated effective immediately.”
Later Wednesday, when a reporter began to ask Hill if he believes Torres should be fired, the wide receiver made a pointing gesture.
“Gone,” he said. “Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.”
