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Bodycam video of Tyreek Hill incident shows officers dragging Dolphins player from car near stadium
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Bodycam video of Tyreek Hill incident shows officers dragging Dolphins player from car near stadium

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — A police officer pulled Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill out of his sports car by the arm and head and then forced him facedown on the ground after Hill rolled up his car window during a traffic stop before Sunday’s game, according to body camera footage released Monday.

The video showed the altercation between Miami-Dade County officers and Hill escalating rapidly. The officers cursed at Hill, but he did not resist their physical force or strike them. He did say to one officer, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Bodycam videos from six officers were released.

Police Director Stephanie Davis said the tape normally wouldn’t be released while the investigation is ongoing, but she wanted to show the department’s “commitment to transparency and maintaining the public’s trust.”

In an interview with CNN later Monday night, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was “ashamed” and “shocked” by the situation.

Video footage shows two motorcycle officers chasing Hill after he appeared to speed past them in his McLaren sports car on the road into Hard Rock Stadium in light traffic – they later said they clocked him at 60 mph. They turned on their lights and pulled Hill over. One of them knocked on the driver’s window and told him to roll it down, which Hill did and handed him his license.

Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill arrested and handcuffed for traffic stop hours before game

Video footage posted to social media shows Hill lying face down on the ground as officers place his hands behind his back and handcuff him.

“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill repeatedly told the officer.

“I have to knock to let them know I’m here,” the officer told Hill, repeatedly asking why the player wasn’t wearing his seat belt.

“Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I’m going to be late. Do what you gotta do,” Hill told the officer as he rolled up his dark tinted window again.

“Keep your window open,” the officer told him, tapping on the glass again. Hill can still be seen inside.

Hill rolled down the window a little and said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” He rolled the window back up.

Hill told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he did roll up his window because he was afraid of drawing unwanted attention.

“If I leave my window down, people walking by, driving by, they’re going to notice it’s me,” Hill said. “And they’re going to start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to create a scene. I just really wanted to get a ticket and then go on my way.”

The officer again told Hill to roll his window back down or, “I’m going to get you out of the car. In fact, get out of the car.”

The officer then demanded that Hill open the door. Another officer stepped forward and said, “Get out of the car or I’ll break that … window,” using an obscene word.

The door opened and the second officer grabbed Hill by the arm and the back of the head as the player said, “I’m getting out.”

Hill later surmised that he was not moving as quickly as the officers would have liked.

“I wasn’t progressing fast because I had injuries,” said Hill, who was entering his ninth NFL season. “I have things that I go through. I play a physical sport.”

The second officer forced Hill face down to the ground. Three officers pulled Hill’s arms behind his back as Hill yelled into his cell phone, “I’m under arrest Drew,” while talking to Dolphins security director Drew Brooks.

The officers handcuffed Hill and one of them 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 have to do,” Hill replied.

“That’s us,” said an officer.

“You’re crazy,” Hill told the officer.

The officers left Hill standing and walked him to the sidewalk. An officer told him to sit on the sidewalk. Hill told the officer that he had just had surgery on his knee.

An officer then jumped behind him and applied a bar grip to Hill’s upper chest or neck, pulling Hill into a sitting position.

“Take it easy, buddy,” Hill told the officers.

At that point, teammate Jonnu Smith parked his SUV in front of Hill’s car, got out and asked what was going on. The officers ordered Smith to get back in his vehicle and leave. They then told him that they would issue him a ticket for blocking the road.

Defensive tackle Calais Campbell also stopped. He was told to leave and when he didn’t, he was briefly handcuffed.

Hill and Campbell were eventually released and allowed into the stadium. Hill was issued citations for reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt, but was never arrested, the video shows. One officer was placed on administrative leave. An internal investigation has been launched.

The Dolphins said in a statement Monday night that they have a strong relationship with law enforcement but are “saddened” by the altercation.

“As is fully evident in the videos released tonight, there are some officers who confuse their responsibility and dedication to serve with misplaced power,” the team said. “While we commend MDPD for taking the appropriate and necessary action to quickly release this footage, we also urge them to take equally swift and robust action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”

Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, defended the officer’s actions, saying in a statement that Hill did not “immediately cooperate” with officers at the scene, and that officers followed their policy by handcuffing Hill, then “taking him to the ground” after he refused to sit down.

Julius B. Collins, Hill’s attorney who appeared with him on CNN, said there was one officer who was “the most aggressive,” but another who initially approached Hill’s car was not aggressive at all. Neither was Hill, Collins added.

“You also saw that he raised his hands to show that he did not have a gun. He was not a threat and he was complying with the officers. I mean, you know, as far as this statement from the police union, I think the video contradicts everything they’re saying.”

Hill, who is black, said he wondered what would have happened to him if he wasn’t an NFL star. Some of his teammates, who are also black, said they were used to that kind of interaction.

“I hate to talk like that, man, because I have a fan base that has kids,” Hill said. “But the reality is, yeah, it’s the truth. If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, at worst we would have had a different article —

“Tyreek Hill was shot in front of Hard Rock Stadium.” That’s the worst-case scenario. Or “Tyreek Hill was handcuffed and taken away and booked.”

This is not the first off-field incident involving Hill.

He was accused of beating his college girlfriend and was cut from the Oklahoma State team. He later pleaded guilty to domestic violence and assault by strangulation. In 2019, prosecutors in the Kansas City suburb of Hill declined to charge him after an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancée and their 3-year-old child.

Hill said Monday that he wants to turn this recent incident into something positive.

“I’m a good old country boy from South Georgia, man,” Hill said. “I don’t really believe in dividing people.”

Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.