Police have released the bodycam footage of its officers showing the events leading to the arrest of Tyreek Hill, Dolphins wide receiver, and his teammates Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith as they drove to Miami stadium for the opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to the Florida Police, Tyreek Hill was asked to pull over because he was driving recklessly and endangering the lives of their road users.
After he was pulled over, the events quickly escalated as seen in the video. It started with one of the officers talking about Tyreek having his seatbelt on as he handed over his papers, after which he rolled his tinted window up.
The officer knocked on the glass demanding he bring the window down but Tyreek did not do so. Tyreek rolled the window slightly down after the officer knocked a second time, he then requested the window be kept down or he would be taken out of the car. Then immediately he requested he get out of the car.
Within multiple blinks of an eye, the officers swung into attack mode dragging him off the car and pinning him on the ground.
“Drew I’m getting arrested”, Tyreek said over Jaguar’s chief of security on the phone. “Take me to jail”, he requested to which the officer who had his knee on his back replied “We will”, and told him to stop crying as he was been handcuffed.
Tyreek was led to the sidewalk to sit down but when he hesitated, citing the surgery he recently had on his knee, one of the officers pounced again and swiftly forced him down with his arms around his neck.
“Did you have surgery on your ears when we asked you to put your windows down”? He screamed.
Hill’s teammates were driving to the stadium for the game and pulled over to check what was happening. They were asked to keep off. As Calais Campbell spoke with Drew on the phone, while keeping a good distance from the scene of the arrest, one of the cops approached him asking him to leave.
As he hesitatively moved towards his car while still on the phone with their team’s security, another officer took it up and demanded for his license.
Watch the full video below:
The three were arrested but later released and the Dolphins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-17, with Tyreek adding a 80-yard touchdown.
Tyreek Hills claimed he was scared for his life and at that time remembered what his uncle’s advice to just put your hands on the steering wheel and listen when faced with escalating tensions with the police. “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what that guy or guys would have done”, he said.
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association in a statement said they stood with the actions of the officers but where open to further dialogue. They however said that one of the officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigations.
You can guess who the cop might be. He’s probably the one Tyreek said was on a “power trip” and felt like “he needed to do something that day”.
