Miami Police investigate Tyreek Hill’s detention before Dolphins game
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Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill sits handcuffed on the sidewalk during a traffic stop, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MIAMI – Tyreek Hill, the star wide receiver of the Miami Dolphins, criticised police officers for being “hostile”, a day after he was briefly detained and handcuffed on his way to a game.
A police union said he was uncooperative, and the Miami-Dade Police Department opened an internal investigation.
Body-cam footage released on Sept 9 by the department showed Hill lowering the window of his car and telling an officer not to knock on it. Hill then handed over his driver’s licence, saying “do what you gotta do” before rolling his window back up.
The officer warned him to keep the window down, saying: “Get out of the car right now, we’re not playing this game.”
Videos posted on social media showed officers dragging Hill out of the car, forcing him face down on the ground and putting him in handcuffs.
“It just went from 0 to 60, man, from the moment that those guys pulled up behind me, knocked on my window, it went from 0 to 60 immediately,” Hill told NBC Nightly News, criticising the officers’ “all-hostile” attitude.
Hill was pulled over on Sept 8 about a block away from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, the home field of the Dolphins, the National Football League (NFL) team owned by billionaire Stephen Ross.
Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said Hill was “driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great danger” and failed to cooperate.
“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,” Stahl said in a statement. “Mr Hill, still uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground and was therefore redirected to the ground.”
Miami-Dade police released 105 minutes of body-cam footage but said it is still reviewing it.
Hill was issued two traffic citations and told he was free to leave, Stahl added.
One of the best receivers in the league, Hill was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his eight seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
“Right now, I’m still trying to put it all together. I still don’t know what happened,” he told reporters after the 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was the season opener for both teams.
“But I do want to use this platform to say, ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ I want to be able to use this platform to figure out a way to flip this and make it a positive on my end and Miami-Dade and do something positive for the community.” BLOOMBERG
