MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins was handcuffed and placed face down on a street outside the team's stadium after he was stopped for speeding and reckless driving Sunday morning before the Dolphins' first game of the season, an incident that left the star wide receiver baffled and resulted in a police officer being placed on administrative leave.
The officer, who was not identified, was one of at least three involved in detaining Hill. Some fans saw Hill being handcuffed and captured video on their way to the game, and it quickly went viral on social media.
Miami-Dade Police director Stephanie V. Daniels said she had launched an internal affairs investigation.
Told after the game that the officer was placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Hill said: “That should tell you everything you need to know.”
Added defensive tackle Calais Campbell, who was also briefly handcuffed after coming to his teammate’s aid: “That makes sense based on the situation.”
Hill, who said he respects police officers and wants to be one when he retires from football, said he “had no idea” why police placed him in handcuffs.
“I wasn’t disrespectful because my mom didn’t raise me that way,” Hill said. “Didn’t cuss. Didn’t do none of that. Like I said, I’m still trying to figure it out, man.”
Hill starred on the field for the Dolphins, catching seven passes for 130 yards — including an 80-yard touchdown that helped Miami rally for a 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill celebrated the score by mimicking being handcuffed.
Hill, who is Black, said he didn't want to use his celebrity to get out of the situation but wondered what would’ve happened if he weren’t an NFL star.
“I don’t want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do,” he said. “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.’”
Daniels said in a statement earlier Sunday that she requested an “immediate review” of the details surrounding the incident, adding that the department would review available body camera footage.
In a later statement, Daniels said: “I'm committed to transparency and accountability to the community with any situation involving my officers."
Hill said everything happened so fast it caught him off guard.
“I’m just glad that my teammates were there to support me in that situation because I felt alone,” Hill added.
Campbell said he was driving into Hard Rock Stadium when he saw Hill handcuffed, and he stopped to help. The 17-year NFL veteran ended up in handcuffs as well, saying officers told him it was because he disobeyed their direct orders.
“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 said, also calling the incident “a bit extreme.”
Hill, who led the NFL in receiving yards in 2023, said he spoke to his wife and family after he was detained and before the game kicked off.
His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, called it a “heartbreaking situation” on ESPN.
“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.”
It isn't the first off-field incident involving Hill.
He was accused of punching his girlfriend in college and got kicked off the team at Oklahoma State. In 2019, prosecutors in suburban Kansas City declined to charge Hill after an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancee and their 3-year-old child.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league has been in contact with the Dolphins about Sunday's incident, but declined to comment further.
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Alanis Thames, The Associated Press