On Sunday morning, the Miami Dolphins’ star wide receiver was stopped by a crew of police officers. He got pulled out of his black sports car that retails for $300,000, and with the driver’s side butterfly door still propped up, officers placed him in handcuffs. The glittering chain around his neck scuffed against the pavement. The scene was caught on video by passing motorists. A concerned statement from the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department soon followed.
Column by Candace Buckner
Later, after the cops allowed him to get on to his day job and after he celebrated a touchdown by imitating being placed under arrest, the multimillionaire stood on an elevated platform and addressed reporters. He had the room’s attention as he recounted his brief detainment by law enforcement, and he asked, “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?”
Do we really have to wonder?
Had this situation not involved one of the best and highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL, and instead just a random citizen stopped outside Hard Rock Stadium for careless driving, here’s an educated guess as to what probably would have happened: He would have been arrested, not simply detained. His car — maybe a Mazda, certainly not a McLaren — would have been abandoned on the side of the road as he was placed face down on the ground for a traffic stop. And with motorists capturing the moment, the police department would not have immediately launched an investigation and placed an officer on administrative leave.
It’s not unlike what might have happened back in May in Louisville if it wasn’t the two-time Masters champion pulled over and apprehended outside of Valhalla Golf Club and instead was just some regular guy. Following the early-morning arrest of an anonymous driver, would the city’s mayor and chief of police had held a joint news conference to announce discipline for an officer who did not activate his body camera? Highly unlikely.
The traffic stop involving Scottie Scheffler ultimately ended with that same officer wishing Scheffler “all the best,” though he still claimed he had been run over and dragged by Scheffler’s car. By Monday morning of this week, the police union representing the Miami-Dade department offered a more contentious response. To combat the viral cellphone video, the union described Hill as “uncooperative” during the stop and said he had to be “redirected to the ground.” By Monday evening, footage from an officer’s body camera surfaced and showed a handcuffed Hill hesitating to take a seat on the curb before another officer charges in and forcefully takes him down.
All of this makes Hill’s hypothetical even more provocative. We now know what happens when Scheffler or Hill get pulled over for a traffic stop. They’re athletes with loads of fame, armies of adoring fans and more money than they can ever spend. One receives the equivalent of a thank-you note from the detective who arrested him. The other learns after the game about the swift action conducted by the police department in scrutinizing one of its own despite the union’s spin.
But what if it wasn’t the top-ranked golfer in the world? Would another man in an orange jumpsuit get offered a sandwich as Scheffler said he was by a police officer? Would he be released ahead of his tee time? Would he deserve the benefit of the doubt afforded to a successful and likable pro athlete, when so many other times — from certain communities that still hold law enforcement in reverence — the badge automatically receives that trust?
What if that was not Tyreek Hill? Would Dolphins fans driving by protest on his behalf, yelling toward officers to “Chill out!” once they notice who’s on the ground? Would the director of the police department have “requested an immediate review of all the details surrounding the incident” — releasing that statement before the game even began? Would he receive an outpouring of support from a high-powered sports agent, a sympathetic audience on social media and voices in an NFL locker room?
In standing up for their teammate, several Dolphins reacted with the kind of sad casualness that only comes from a lifetime of horrible experiences with police.
“I’ve seen the clip. The cop, like, kicked him or something like that. It was crazy,” Dolphins safety Jevón Holland said, though nothing in the tone of his voice portrayed shock. “It’s not unnatural or not uncommon for cops to do that type of s---, especially to Black men.”
That inspires another question: Had that not been Calais Campbell, the Dolphins defensive tackle and 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award winner, stopping to assist Hill on Sunday and just another 6-foot-8 Black man, would he have been released after being handcuffed?
We should already know the answers to all of these questions. Very likely no. The situations would not have ended the same way.
Though there appeared to be people of color among the arresting officers Sunday, a racial element still hangs over the image of Hill in handcuffs. Just as the nonchalance of his teammates makes clear — this is a real and familiar nightmare for many Black men in America. He might be Tyreek Hill, but even he was grabbed by a police officer just below his neck and forced down. There’s still something else: the recognition that wealth and fame can level the playing field during encounters with law enforcement, that the rapid delivery of justice becomes a bit more certain when the whole world is watching.
The traffic stops involving Hill and Scheffler were unfortunate, but the subsequent actions were not shocking. The famous athletes received treatment after their encounters that citizens of lesser status and in lower tax brackets would not.
The star wide receiver’s question was on point: What if he wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Would police be hastening to get to the bottom of this? Would he have missed work, vainly telling anyone who would listen that he didn’t understand why officers pulled him to the ground? Had there not been someone holding up a cellphone, would we, the public, have automatically rushed to his defense? Or would we assume he must have done something wrong to get himself put in handcuffs?
But because he is Tyreek Hill, this might get resolved ahead of Week 2. He might even end up filming a public service announcement with Miami-Dade police about safe driving. Hill, a somebody in the NFL, doesn’t have to live with a more disturbing alternative.
