The Miami Dolphins called Miami-Dade Police officers’ conduct “overly aggressive and violent” during a traffic stop of wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Sunday.
The team statement Monday followed the release of body-worn camera footage of Hill being forced out of his vehicle and onto the ground by police officers after a stop just outside Hard Rock Stadium.
Hill was en route to the stadium Sunday for the Dolphins’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars when police pulled him over. He was ticketed for a traffic violation, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN on Sunday.
Following the stop, police approached Hill’s car and after a brief interaction, Hill rolled his window up. The police told Hill to keep his window down, and after he did not fully roll it back down, one of the four Miami-Dade police officers opened his car door and pulled him out of the vehicle by the back of his neck. One officer put Hill face-down on the street to handcuff him.
Body-cam footage from Tyreek Hill’s detainment prior to the Dolphins vs. Jaguars game this past Sunday has surfaced.
via @AndySlaterpic.twitter.com/ClTzhzUMEh
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) September 9, 2024
Hill said in an interview with “NBC Nightly News” that aired Monday before the body-worn camera video was released that police handcuffed him immediately.
“It felt like I was a threat, and I don’t see why they felt like I was a threat,” Hill said in the interview.
During the detainment, Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell and tight end Jonnu Smith drove by and pulled over to the side of the road to help Hill. Campbell told ESPN he was also detained and cited for disobeying a direct order. He said he saw Hill in handcuffs and believed it was “excessive force.”
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said in a news conference Monday afternoon that he was “very happy a guy in a situation like that didn’t feel alone.”
“It’s what you hope your team is comprised of,” McDaniel said about Campbell and Smith’s attempt to help Hill. “I’m very proud that they see each other as teammates and hold that in regard the way they do.”
The Dolphins expressed support for their players in their statement Monday while also calling on the MDPD to take action.
“It is both maddening and heartbreaking to watch the very people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force and hostility towards these players, yet it is also a reminder that not every situation like this ends in peace, as we are grateful this one did,” the statement said.
“…We are proud to have a strong and positive relationship with the Miami-Dade Police Department and other law enforcement agencies and recognize that the vast majority of officers do serve the community with the utmost character and desire to protect all citizens. However, as is on full display in the videos released tonight, there are some officers who mistake their responsibility and commitment to serve with misguided power.”
The statement goes on to say the Dolphins commend MDPD for quickly releasing the footage but also urge the department to “take equally swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 10, 2024
Officers released Hill in time for him to play in Sunday’s game, a 20-17 Dolphins win. Hill played a key role in the win, catching seven passes for 130 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown. While celebrating the touchdown, Hill mimicked his detainment by putting his hands behind his back as if he were handcuffed.
“Right now, I’m still trying to put it all together,” Hill said after the game. “I still don’t know what happened. I want to use this platform to say, ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ Like, worst-case scenario. … I want to use this platform to figure out a way to flip this and make it a positive on both ends, on my end and on Miami-Dade so that way we can team together and do something positive.”
Let’s make a change
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) September 10, 2024
Following Hill’s detainment, Miami-Dade Police Department director Stephanie Daniels said in separate statements Sunday that she had requested a review of the incident and that one of the officers involved had been placed on administrative duties amid an investigation. Following the release of the bodycam footage Monday, Daniels said the police department “is committed to conducting a thorough, objective investigation into this matter, and we will continue to update the public on the outcome of that process.”
Monday, the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union for police officers, said it “(stands) with the actions of our officers” involved in the incident.
“We have worked hard across all communities to bridge the gap between what people believe law enforcement should and can do,” the association said in a statement. “While we wait for the investigation to run its course, based on what we know, we stand with the actions of our officers but look forward to further open communication moving forward.”
McDaniel, who spoke Monday before the public release of the bodycam footage, said of Hill’s detainment: “It’s been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it.
“Trying to put myself in that emotion or that situation that they described emotionally and then knowing more than that. The thing that f— me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is knowing that I don’t know what that feels like.”
He added: “I think that it’s supremely important to wait for information to be gathered before any rush to judgment. Regardless, I know the feelings expressed to me are … unsettling. Two things did come from the adversity. I’m super proud of teammates being teammates and super proud of our guys understanding the civic responsibility of a platform and intending to do right by it.”
(Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
