Written by Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – New video emerged on Monday showing police officers forcibly removing Miami Dolphins player Tyreek Hill from his car and throwing him to the ground during a heavy traffic stop before the team’s first home game on Sunday.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said it will release available body camera footage as it continues to investigate the incident. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump posted a three-minute, 35-second clip of the footage on X.
The video begins with a police officer asking Hill through his open car window why he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. After a brief exchange, Hill rolls up the window and the officer knocks on it, ordering him to lower it.
Hill opens the car window partly and the officer orders him to get out of the car. Another officer quickly comes up, opens the car door, grabs Hill by the back of the head, and forces him to lie face down on the pavement while he places him in handcuffs and presses his knee into his back.
Officers then removed Hill, who was still in handcuffs, and led him to the sidewalk, where they asked him to sit down.
Hill asks them to slow down because he “just had knee surgery” as an officer grabs him from behind around the neck and forces him to sit on the sidewalk.
Miami-Dade Police on Sunday opened an internal investigation into the matter and one of the officers involved in the incident was placed on administrative duty while the review is conducted.
“I was shocked,” Hill told CNN on Monday.
“It was crazy because everything happened so quickly. I couldn’t really process it all. As a father and a husband in this situation, I was like, ‘I have to be smart.’”
The Miami Dolphins responded to the video with a statement posted on X calling the police action “outrageous and saddening” and calling for “swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”
“It’s a reminder that not every situation like this ends peacefully… ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ is a question that will have a resounding impact,” the team said.
“great danger”
Still, Hill, a five-time All-Star receiver, made it into the game, scoring an 80-yard touchdown on his way to a 20-17 win. After the game, he said he obeyed the officers’ orders.
Earlier Monday, before any footage of the incident had been circulated, a union representing Miami-Dade officers said Hill was uncooperative when he was stopped near Dolphins Stadium for driving in a manner that “put himself and others at great risk.”
Hill was placed in handcuffs for the officers’ safety, Stedman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement.
Mr. Hill, still uncooperative, refused to sit on the floor, and was therefore redirected to the floor.
“After the situation was resolved within a few minutes, Mr. Hill was issued two traffic tickets and was free to leave.”
Stahl said the union would wait until the investigation was complete, but based on the information available, it said it stood by the actions of its officers.
Hill’s attorney, Julius Collins, said the police union’s statement was inconsistent with what was shown in the video.
“I think the video contradicts everything they’re saying,” he told CNN.
Hill, who finished Sunday’s opener with seven catches for 130 yards, celebrated his goal by putting his hands behind his back to simulate being handcuffed.