Tyreek Hill has addressed the allegations of racism fired at Miami police after the Dolphins wide receiver was detained in shocking scenes Sunday.
The 30-year-old waspinned to the ground and handcuffed by cops while making his way to Hard Rock Stadium for the Dolphins’ Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Hill, who still lined up for the Dolphins in their season opener, was reportedly ordered to pull over around one block away from Hard Rock after being cited for ‘reckless driving’ while making his way to the stadium.
The NFL wideout even appeared to have been struck by an unprovoked officer in astonishing footage of the incident with social media users accusing the police of excessive force and alleging that race fueled their actions.
Hill, however, stopped short of labeling the detainment racist after he helped the Dolphins to a 20-17 win over their Florida neighbors.
Tyreek Hill has addressed the allegations of racism fired at Miami police after he was detained
The Miami Dolphins receiver was handcuffed and detained by police while entering the team’s Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday morning
But, the former Kansas City Chiefs star did hint at his fears of being arrested as a black man as he suggested the incident may have escalated further if he hadn’t have been a well-known NFL player.
‘I don’t want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do,’ he said, via ESPN, following the game. ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what that guy or guys would have done.
‘I was just making sure that I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you’re in a situation like that: “Just listen, put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen.”‘
Despite his client being released, Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has described the incident as a ‘heartbreaking situation’ which was ‘completely unnecessary’ and suggested they will take action.
‘How things escalated into the situation that they were in, in handcuffs and being held on the ground with police, is mindboggling to me,’ Rosenhaus said.
‘I’m deeply concerned by that. Very troubled. We will be looking into it. We will be investigating this. We will look out for Tyreek, but I’m not going to make any allegations at this time. The most important thing is Tyreek is OK physically, mentally he was very distraught about what happened.’
News of Hill’s detainment sparked outrage online, with ESPN host Stephen A. Smith hitting out at the ‘unnecessary’ incident on Sunday morning and drawing comparisons with golf star Scottie Scheffler’s infamous arrest in Kentucky earlier this year.
Smith wrote on X alongside a video of Hill being placed in cuffs on the ground: ‘Look for yourself. This is b.s. Totally unnecessary.
Hill, who lined up for the Dolphins in their season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, was seen being cuffed by police in videos circulating on social media
The 30-year-old mimicked him being detained as a celebration after scoring a long touchdown
‘And btw…., I know the Scottie Scheffler incident was in Georgia — not Florida — and he was arrested, detained, booked. I also know we don’t know all the details, blah….blah…..blah! But he wasn’t faced down on the ground in cuffs? Then forcibly sat down again by officers a second time. Nah! This story isn’t going away — and it doesn’t need to.’
Meanwhile, one social media user wrote: ‘Why they do him like that ??? that my question cause he black.’
‘Racist cops tried to arrest Tyreek Hill,’ another added. ‘That’s some bulls***.’
A few hours after Hill’s detainment Miami-Dade Police Department announced that one of the officers involved in the incident has been placed on administrative duties amid an internal investigation into the incident.
A few hours later a statement from Miami-Dade Police chief Stephanie V. Daniels – reported by NFL network – revealed that the officer has been put on administrative duties during ‘a thorough review of the matter’.
‘I’m committed to transparency and accountability to the community with any situation involving my officers,’ the statement added. The officer in question has not been identified.
Hill was seen being detained on the ground and led away in cuffs following a reported alleged altercation with an officer, before cops released him shortly after. Several of his Miami teammates are said to have pulled over to help deescalate the situation.
After the astonishing ordeal, Hill continued to the stadium where he started for the Dolphins, even scoring a touchdown during the 20-17 Week 1 victory, which he celebrated by performing a handcuffed gesture.
The incident sparked accusations of racism towards the officers from social media users
Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell said he was also detained by police
An officer has now been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation. The officer in question has not been identified
Teammate Terron Armstead revealed that Hill was ‘pretty upset, but ready to play’ when he entered the locker room to suit up for the game.
However, Hill wasn’t the only Dolphins player to be placed in cuffs during the incident.
‘They put handcuffs on me too and I was like ‘What is going on?’ I didn’t understand what the issue was, for him to put handcuffs on me,’ Miami defensive lineman Calais Campbell revealed after the game. ‘I felt some kind of way. That just goes to show you our resilience. We’re not going to let that stop us.’
‘I’d seen, I feel like excessive force, so I get out of the car to kind of just try to de-escalate the situation,’ Campbell later added, also calling the incident ‘a bit extreme.’
