As you likely heard, Miami’s star wide receiver Tyreek Hill was detained by police just hours before Sunday’s game, with video showing him handcuffed. In his post game press conference he said he was pulled over for speeding and reckless driving. But what really happened? We have gathered information and footage that’s been released by police and comments Hill has made to try to piece together this puzzle.
The Miami Dolphins opened the 2024-25 season with a thrilling 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. But that was nowhere near the biggest headline from the game. A couple hours before the Dolphins’ game on Sunday, the team’s official X account posted a message reading, “This morning, WR Tyreek Hill was pulled over for a traffic incident about one block from the stadium and briefly detained by police. He has since been released. Several teammates saw the incident and stopped to offer support. Tyreek and all other players involved have safely arrived to the stadium and will be available for today’s game.”
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The release of body cam footage of the incident Monday afternoon had people online wondering how a seemingly straightforward traffic stop could escalate so quickly. Of course, it’s clear to Black folks exactly how this could happen, because we know how this goes.
According to the footage, the officers approached the driver’s side of Hill’s sports car, demanding that he roll the window down. He was presumably on the phone with Dolphins security and his agent, telling them what’s going on. When he doesn’t get his window down quick enough, they yell at him to get out of the car.
Without giving him any time to actually open the door and exit the vehicle, they rip him out of the car, slam him to the ground and handcuff him.
While he does seem annoyed at the inconvenience of being pulled over, it doesn’t visibly appear that Hill posed a threat. Even if the cops thought he was, once he’s on the ground, handcuffed, he’s obviously no longer a threat to anyone.
On Monday, the 2020 Super Bowl champion appeared on CNN to tell his side of the story. He explained that he put his window down while talking to officers, but kept it up at other times so he wouldn’t “cause a scene.”
“If I let my window down, people walking by, driving by, they’re going to notice that it’s me and they’re going to start taking pictures,” Hill said. “I didn’t want to create a scene at all, I just really wanted to get the ticket and then just go out about my way and have a great Sunday.”
We can’t know exactly what was in that officer’s head, but Black people certainly recognize this behavior. It felt like he wanted to teach this uppity Black man a lesson and humiliate him. He wanted to make sure Hill knew he wasn’t better than him, so he handcuffed him and put him on the ground in full view of everyone heading to the football stadium.
As the situation unfolded, two of his teammates stopped to help Hill, but found themselves detained as well. According to CNN, the officer involved in the incident has been placed on administrative leave and an internal investigation is being conducted. Predictably, the police union representing the Miami-Dade Police Department put out a statement defending the officers’ actions and calling Hill “uncooperative.”
Fortunately, Hill went on to ball out, racking up 130 yards on seven receptions and one memorable 80-yard touchdown, during which he referenced the incident. As part of his scoring celebration, Tyreek put his hands behind his back as if he were handcuffed, while teammate Jaylen Waddle walked behind him holding him.
What makes this situation so frustrating and exhausting for Black folks is that there were plenty of opportunities for the police to deescalate the situation. They’re the law enforcement professionals. They’re the ones with the training. They should know this level of aggression wasn’t necessary in this case.
If you’re asking yourself “What if he wasn’t Tyreek Hill?” It’s pretty obvious what the answer is, because we’ve seen it play out countless times already.
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