Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill is calling for the firing of the police officers involved in a pre-game incident on Sunday in which the star player was stopped, pinned to the ground and handcuffed.
“It's shocking,” Hill said. “I can't believe in this world that an officer with a body camera on would literally do something like that. It's just so sad… What would they do if they didn't have a body camera?”
He added that it was “embarrassing,” especially after his children saw the video.
“I have kids, and when I Facetime with my kids they ask me, 'Dad, are you OK? Are you OK?' and it's embarrassing,” Hill said.
Hill was stopped by police on Sunday ahead of the team's season opener, and police body camera footage released on Monday shows the officer asking Hill why he wasn't wearing his seat belt.
Things escalated when Hill rolled down his window. When the officer ordered him to open it, Hill only rolled it down halfway, but did so. The officer then ordered Hill to get out of the car.
Another officer then approached, opened the car door, grabbed Hill by the back of his head and threw him face-down on the pavement, then pressed his knee into his back as Hill was handcuffed.
The officers then picked up Hill, still handcuffed, and carried him to the sidewalk, where they ordered him to sit. Hill ordered them to slow down because he had “just had knee surgery,” but the officers grabbed him by the neck from behind and forced him to sit on the curb.
Hill added that while he could have complied with Officer Danny Torres when he was first stopped, the officers had no right to treat him that way.
“Obviously, I could have done better. I could have opened the window,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, I'm a human being. I have to follow the rules and do what everyone else does. Does that give them the right to literally punch me? Absolutely not.”
Hill is now calling for the officers involved to be fired.
“He needs to quit,” Hill said. “Not only did he treat me badly at the time, he was disrespectful to my teammates… he needs to quit.”
