
Tyreek Hill, the wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, wants to convince the public that police officers pulled him over and harassed him because of racist motivations. Hill is black.
Officers pulled the football star over after they estimated him driving at 60 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone, and for not wearing a seatbelt. The incident took place on September 10. The officer who pulled Hill over told him to roll down his window and hand over his driver’s license. Bodycam footage shows that Hill refused to keep his window down, and that’s when the situation escalated.
The officer told Hill to get out of his car, and Hill responded saying “I’m gonna get out” several times. The cop opened his door and pulled Hill out of the car, then another cop grabbed Hill’s head and pushed him down onto the pavement to get handcuffs on him.
Hill claims the treatment was unnecessarily rough. He claims that one of the officers was “pinching me on my neck” to try to provoke Hill into retaliating or “to do something to him.” Hill called it “next level crazy.”
Now he’s calling for the arresting cop, Danny Torres, to be removed from the police force. Torres has been a cop for 27 years. Pending an investigation he has been placed on administrative duty. At the same time, Torres’ own lawyers are demanding that the department reinstate him immediately.
Hill was released from detention about a half hour after the incident began. As his agent Drew Rosenhaus arrived on the scene, Hill yelled to officers that he would see them in court as he got back into his car.
In a statement released by Hill and his lawyers on September 10 they called for officer Torres to be fired. Hill reiterated that call during a team press conference the next day. Hill said, “Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone,” and “He gotta go man.” Hill claimed the cop not only mistreated him, but also “disrespected” his football teammates.
Those who have seen the bodycam footage disagree on who was in the right and who was wrong. ESPN’s Stephen Smith said Hill bore some responsibility for his behavior, but believes the cops also used unnecessary force.
Charles Barkley, a famous former NBA star who is also black, criticized the media for focusing on Hill’s race in all the coverage. Barkley said there are many “fools” in the media who love to “play the race card” disingenuously when there are examples of cops treating white suspects in exactly the same way.