Police officers forcefully pulled Miami Dolphins wide receiverTyreek Hill out of his car during a traffic stop just outside Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, according to newly-released body-camera footage of the encounter.
The footage, which was released Monday evening by the Miami-Dade Police Department, shows a chaotic three-minute sequence in which Hill is pulled over for speeding,taken to the ground and put into handcuffs. It also shows the moments afterward in which Hill repeatedly complained of knee pain while teammates watched from nearby and tried to help.
The encounter has since led to an internal investigation by Miami-Dade police.
"If I wasn't Tyreek Hill, Lord knows," Hill told NBC Nightly News in an interview that aired Monday. "I probably would have been – like, worst-case scenario, I would have been shot or would have been locked up (and) put behind bars for a simple speeding ticket."
The encounter between Hill and the primary responding officer started as a routine traffic stop, according to the body-camera footage. The officer, who was on a motorcycle, pulled Hill over, knocked on the window of his McLaren 720S coupe and informed him that he was speeding.
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“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill told the officer, repeating it at least seven times. “Give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. Do what you have to do.”
After Hill turned over his license, he rolled his window up again. The officer knocked on the window twice more.
“Keep your window down or I’m going to get you out of the car," the officer said. "As a matter of fact, get out of the car. … Get out of the car right now. We’re not playing this game. Get out. Get out!”
At least three officers are seen pulling Hill, who was on the phone, out of the car and onto the ground.
“Hey Drew, hey Drew, I’m getting arrested dude. I’m getting arrested,” Hill said as he’s brought to the ground. Hill was speaking to Dolphins head of team security Drew Brooks, who later arrived at the scene.
Hill was placed in handcuffs, standing on the curb while another officer attempted to bring him down to the ground in a seated position.
“I just had surgery on my knee! I just had surgery on my knee!” Hill said. “Chill bro, chill bro.”
After forcing him to the ground, an officer said to Hill: “Did you just have surgery on your ears when we told you to put your window down?”
Hill complained about knee pain several times and repeatedly asked if he could stand, citing tendonitis.
"I'm not playing today bruh, because that dude (expletive) my knee up. Like he really tackled me on my knee on this damn cement, bruh," Hill said. (He went on to catch seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in the Dolphins' 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.)
Teammates Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell are also shown on the body-camera footage, interacting with officers while attempting to assist Hill. Smith appeared to receive a traffic ticket for failing to move his car. Campbell was briefly placed in handcuffs after also declining to leave the scene.
As the initial officer explained to another officer what led to the stop, Hill can be heard in the background saying: “I’m just being a Black man, that’s it. I’m just being Black in America, bruh. … I’m just being a Black man in America, bruh, with a nice car.”
An officer informed Hill he was being cited for careless driving and driving without a seatbelt.
Hill’s Atlanta-based lawyer, J.B. Collins, released a statement Monday saying his legal team is “exploring all legal remedies.” They believe the officers’ actions were “excessive.”
“Mr. Hill understands the inherently dangerous job that law enforcement is tasked with and understands that officer safety is important. However, at no point in time did Mr. Hill pose a threat to these officers,” Collins said.
“We believe that this matter was escalated due to overzealous officers attempting to impose their authority on Mr. Hill because they were not pleased with how fast he complied with their request and that Mr. Hill did not roll down his window far enough to their liking."
Miami-Dade Police director Stephanie Daniels said the department released the body-camera footage Monday, despite its ongoing internal investigation, as part of "our commitment to transparency."
"The 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," she said in a statement.
After being joined at the scene by Brooks and Hill's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, Hill left the scene by shaking hands with the responding officers, including the one who initially pulled him over. He told the officers: “Respect, for real. It’s nothing personal. Appreciate it. Appreciate it."
“I still got love for y’all,” Hill added as he walked away.“I still want to be an officer one day. I’ve got respect for all of y’all.”
