The videos of Tyreek Hill’s detainment on Sunday morning are as infuriating as they can frightening, especially for Black people as it manifests a fear we all have.
An encounter with the police that goes horribly wrong.
By now, everyone has seen at least one of the videos showing Hill’s traffic stop near Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. As the Dolphins star was driving his McLaren to the stadium, cops pulled him over as they felt he was speeding.
Here is the original interaction with police, who pull Tyreek Hill out of his car after disagreements over his window. The officer says to Hill, “When we tell you to do something, you do it. You understand? Not what you want. What we tell you. You are a little fucking confused.” pic.twitter.com/lFc86WNHs9
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 9, 2024
The officer knocked on his window and demanded his license and registration. Hill, who told the officer “Don’t knock on my window like that,” complied and then raised his window back up.
The officer knocked again and told him “Keep your window down, or I’m going to get you out of the car.”
Hill rolled the window down and the officer almost immediately demanded he get out of the car despite Hill’s window being down. Another officer threatened to “break that f*ing window.”
And that’s when things escalated unnecessarily.
As soon as Hill opened the door, the officer grabbed him and dragged him out as two other officers assisted, took Hill to the ground and handcuffed him, all while Hill offered no resistance.
Afterward, as Hill sat handcuffed on the sidewalk, he was joined in handcuffs by teammate Calais Campbell, who did nothing but try and find out what was happening.
Both men were later released at the scene and played in the game, but the incident lingered in the media and, most significantly, in the minds of all Black people as a fearful reminder of incidents, many fatal, witnessed far too often.
Hill followed the officer’s demands yet the latter immediately inflamed the situation by ripping the door open and forcibly dragging Hill out by the back of his head despite Hill having lowered his window.
Some have jumped on Hill for raising his window back up or that he didn’t lower it all the way, but he answered that question during an interview with CNN’s Caitlin Collins.
