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A brutal police encounter involving Miami Dolphins football player Tyreek Hill is the latest incident to illustrate the enduring problem of violence by law enforcement and how force is used against black Americans.
On Sunday morning, officers pulled Hill over for a traffic stop near the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and quickly escalated the situation. After handing Hill his identification, he rolled up his window. As he slowed to make it down, an officer violently pulled him from the car, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.
Hill was then forced to sit on the side of the road and receive Two traffic citationsbefore being released before the start of that afternoon’s game. So are two of Hill’s teammates, Calais Campbell and Johnnu Smith stopped their car After seeing Hill confront the police. Because he did not respond to requests to move his vehicle, Campbell was also handcuffed and later released without a ticket.
Hill told reporters He was “shell-shocked”. Note that by the whole exchange, it went quickly “Zero to 60” He also spoke of fears that things could have escalated had he not been a famous football player. “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?” he asked.
Miami Dolphins Wells condemned the officers’ “overly aggressive and violent behavior” in a statement, noting that it was “maddening” and “heartbreaking” to see people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force and hostility toward these players.
Miami-Dade Police Department Body camera footage released The disturbing encounter on Monday evening, and placed one of the officers involved on administrative duty. It is also conducting an internal affairs investigation into the incident, Chief Stephanie Daniels said in a statement.
The violence on the Hill puts another spotlight on the pervasiveness of police brutality and systemic racism — including how a traffic stop can pose a threat to black Americans. According to the Washington Post Tracker810 people were shot and killed by police in 2024, and the number reached a record high of 1,163 in 2023. Black Americans are also twice as likely to be killed by the police than white Americans. Post Notes.
“Lord knows, I probably would have been like the worst case scenario, I would have been shot or locked up,” Hill told NBC News.
How quickly the police raised tickets
Hill was driving to the Dolphins game when police pulled him over For fast and reckless driving.
An officer knocked on his window and Hill handed him his identification, rolling back the window after doing so. The officer then tapped on her window multiple times and told her to put it down.
Hill then rolled the window down partially and the officer said: “Put that window down or I’m going to kick you out of the car.” Without waiting for Hill to roll down the window any further, the officer then says, “Actually, get out of the car,” and goes to pull the driver’s side door open.
As he was doing this, a second officer came up and started yelling, “I’m going to break that freaking window.” That second officer pulled the door open and threw Hill out of the car and onto the ground. Once he was on the ground, one officer used his knee to pin Hill to the ground while two men pulled his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.
“I’m under arrest, Drew,” Hill is heard telling Drew Brooks. Head of safety for the Miami Dolphins.
“When we tell you to do something, you do it, understand? Not what you want, but what we tell you,” said an official. “You’re a little confused.”
“Take it easy, bro, do what you gotta do,” Hill said.
Officers brought Hill to his feet as two of his teammates — Campbell and Smith — drove past in another vehicle. “They’re beating on my window, like he’s crazy. I didn’t do anything,” Hill said.
Officers then attempted to place Hill in a roadside craft, when he told them to “hold on.” “I’ve had knee surgery,” Hill said, as an officer hooked his arms around his neck and upper body, pulling him into a sitting position. “I just had surgery on my knee,” Hill reiterated.
“Really, what a coincidence. Did you have ear surgery when we asked you to roll down the window?” shouted the officer.
“Brother, calm down,” Hill says.
Smith’s car was pulled a few meters down the road and he then got out and called someone, saying, “They’ve got Tyreek. The police here beat him up.” Officers confronted Smith and told him not to park there and to get back in the car. An officer began yelling at Smith for his license and said “or I’ll lock you up.”
Campbell parked his car on the side of the road behind the police officers’ motorcycles and he repeatedly yelled to “leave” or risk consequences. “If you don’t leave, I will take you to jail,” said an officer. The officer then handcuffed Campbell and forced him to sit down.
As Campbell knelt down, the officer said, “I told you to leave. Why don’t you leave?” “Because you have my friend in handcuffs,” Campbell said. The officers eventually released Campbell and then Hill.
“It’s crazy that me and my family had to go through this,” Hill told CNN.
The regional police union claimed the officers’ behavior was due to Hill not sufficiently complying with their demands. “After being stopped, Mr. Hill was not immediately cooperative with officers on the scene who followed policy and handcuffed Mr. Hill for their immediate safety,” said Stedman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association. a statement
“I think the officers thought I wasn’t doing it on their time, but I was doing it,” Hill said in an interview with CNN. After his release, Hill and his teammates went on to play in their season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, during which Hill scored a crucial touchdown. After he scored, Hill put his hands behind his back to arrest him.
Hill’s experience of police brutality is extensive
Sunday’s violent traffic stop adds to the systemic problems law enforcement has long faced with the use of force.
According to a review by Mapping Police Violence, police use force against at least 300,000 people a year, A non-profit research organization. Other methods in these incidents include the use of stun guns, chokeholds, and dog attacks. Data like the FBI is incomplete, as it only includes information from police departments that Voluntarily responded to a request From Mapping Police Violence.
The report also states that blacks are three times more likely to be subjected to force by police officers than whites. “All of the disparities we’ve identified regarding police lethality appear to be more extreme in the context of the overall police force,” Mapping Police Violence founder Samuel Sinyangwe told The Guardian. As Vox’s Marin Cogan explains, traffic stops are also a common means of people’s interactions with police, and turn deadly with relative frequency, especially for black drivers.
This discrimination and violence by police was the subject of widespread protests in 2020, following the officer-involved killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Such outrage continues as police killings continue this year, including those of Sonya Massey and Roger Fortson.
“Let’s make a change,” Hill wrote in a post on XFollowing the release of body-camera footage on Monday, which was previously known as Twitter. Asked to elaborate on his post in a CNN interview, he said he was trying to figure out a way to combat these abuses. “We tried everything. We protested. We even took a knee. …so, what next? Dr. Hill.
