Jones: Tyreek Hill could have handled traffic better, but he didn’t deserve police brutality
The question Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill asked Sunday night, hours after he fell facedown in a Miami street and had a Miami-Dade police officer’s knee planted in his back, remains relevant today.
“What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?” the five-time All-Pro wide receiver asked.
Hill undoubtedly considered himself lucky. He left with nothing more than perhaps a few bruises and scrapes after yet another display of excessive force by police against a black person. He played in Sunday’s 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and will play again Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium against the Buffalo Bills.
It’s hard to understand why police brutality against people of color continues to occur. If it hadn’t happened to Hill, who was pulled from his car and fell to the ground after being arrested for speedingwe might never have known it had happened. If he hadn’t been Tyreek Hill, with teammates, a cop and team security coming to his aid, he might have ended up in jail, the hospital — or a morgue.
That was Hill’s point. But he also forgot something important during Sunday’s incident at Hard Rock Stadium: that in America, people of color have no room for error when interacting with police officers. Being a famous black athlete is no different.
This is the country where a police officer knelt on the neck of a black man more than 9 minutes on the street, where he was killed for passing a counterfeit bill. This is the country where a black woman was shot dead in her home after she called 911 for help. What would stop them from shooting a black man who refused to keep his tinted window open?
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Miami-Dade police released bodycam footage of the traffic stop on Monday. Hill was persuaded by a police officer on a motorcycle who was estimated to be driving 60 mph in a 40 mph zone. The situation quickly turned grim.
One officer — apparently irritated by Hill’s annoyance at being pulled over and his refusal to keep his window down — pulled him out of his car by the head, forced him to the ground while threatening him, and then handcuffed him. After moving Hill from the street to the sidewalk, an officer used a chokehold to force Hill to his knees.
An officer on the scene has been assigned to administrative duties. Hill has called for the offending officers to be fired. Severe punishment is certainly warranted. Their actions were nothing short of an abuse of power. Instead of working to defuse the situation, the officers seemed determined to teach Hill, who never threatened them, a lesson in respect and submission.
The Dolphins called the officers’ actions “maddening and heartbreaking” and “overly aggressive and violent” in a statement released Monday.
—Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 10, 2024
It’s frustrating to be pulled over while you’re late for work. Hill’s aversion to being recognized and potentially filmed by passersby is also understandable. But the quickest way to get to the stadium without incident was to remember that black people must always be above suspicion in these types of scenarios.
For generations, black parents have taught their children how to behave when stopped by the police. Window down. Driver’s license and registration. Hands in sight. “Yes, sir. No, sir.” Posing? You better not.
Why couldn’t Hill remember this at the time? He’s probably been asking himself that question since Sunday.
Hill said after Sunday’s game that he “wants to use this platform to find a way to turn this around and make it positive for both sides, for me and for Miami-Dade, so we can do something positive for the community.”
On Wednesday, he went one step further by admitting his mistakes in the incident.
“My whole life is about responsibility, how can I get better?” he told reporters. “I have family members who are police officers and we’ve had conversations. Yeah, I will say I could have done better. I could have rolled my window down at that point. But the thing about me is, man, I don’t want attention, I don’t want cameras out, phones pointed at me at that point.
“But at the end of the day, I’m a human being and I have to play by the rules and do what anyone else would do. Does that give them the right to beat the crap out of me? Absolutely not, but ultimately I wish I could go back and do things a little differently.”
Bodycam footage has surfaced of the arrest of Tyreek Hill prior to Sunday’s Dolphins vs. Jaguars game.
via @AndySlaterphoto.twitter.com/ClTzhzUMEh
— The Athletics (@TheAthletic) September 9, 2024
It is encouraging that Hill was able to admit where he was wrong, and that he spoke to family members who work in law enforcement to gain more understanding about how he should have responded. But nothing can justify the actions of the officers who forced him into submission.
Hill deserved to be treated like a human being instead of being dragged from his car like a dog. Dolphins teammates Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith quickly arrived on the scene and tried to defuse the situation. A police officer also aggressively threatened them and placed Campbell in handcuffs. Campbell, by the way, won the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2019 and the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award in 2024.
Eventually, things lightened up a bit and Hill and Campbell were cleared to leave and play in Sunday’s game. Hill had seven receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown in Miami’s win. He celebrated his touchdown by pretending to be in handcuffs.
Hill learned the hard way that, fair or not, there is no room for error for Black people in encounters with police. While unfortunate, Hill’s incident is a reminder that police brutality remains an ongoing problem. Perhaps his experience can help others who look up to him — and look like him — avoid repeating what happened on Sunday.
(Photo: Rich Story/Getty Images)
