Tyreek Hill’s lawyer, Calais Campbell and the police union representing Miami Dade officers all provided their accounts of the incident Sunday that saw officers detain Hill and Campbell Sunday morning in Miami.
Both Miami Dolphins players were detained as they approached Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium ahead of their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. They were subsequently released in time to play in the game.
Shortly after Hill’s attorney released his statement, body cam footage of the incident was released.
The following video includes NSFW language and images that may be upsetting
This will be a thread of the available video. This first video shows Tyreek Hill driving near Hard Rock Stadium. Can’t tell how fast he’s going but it shows the first interaction with police. pic.twitter.com/SkF9I5MQrp
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 9, 2024
Tyreek Hill’s account
Hill’s attorney Julius B. Collins provided Hill’s account via a statement Monday evening while vowing to explore “all legal remedies.”
“Mr. Hill’s legal team is exploring all legal remedies that may be available to Mr. Hill as we believe that the officers’ actions on September 8, 2024 were excessive,” the statement reads. “As Mr. Hill is appreciative of his status as a ‘celebrity,’ it is not lost upon him how so many others in similar situations have met a different fate and how fortunate all parties involved were able to walk away from this matter.
“To be clear, the traffic stop of Mr. Hill by officers of the Miami Dade Police Department originated as a traffic infraction, but was then escalated after Mr. Hill provided officers his driver’s license and then rolled his window back up. One of the officers knocked on Mr. Hill’s driver’s side window and advised Mr. Hill to keep his windows rolled down otherwise he was going to get him out of the car.
“Mr. Hill had his window rolled down and that officer then demanded Mr. Hill out of the vehicle even after Mr. Hill complied with that officer’s request to keep his window down. Immediately after, another officer then aggressively approached Mr. Hill’s vehicle and stated something to the effect that ‘if we have to break that f***ing window we will.’ Mr. Hill rolled down his window each time he was requested to do so by the requesting officers.”
Police union addresses incident
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association released a statement Monday from president Steadman Stahl addressing the officers’ actions.
“Before the Dolphins game yesterday, an incident occurred where Tyreek Hill was placed in handcuffs before being released. First, to be clear, at no time was he ever under arrest. He was briefly detained for officer safety, after driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great risk of danger.
“Upon being stopped, Mr. Hill was not immediately cooperative with the officers on the scene who, pursuant to policy and for their immediate safety, place Mr. Hill in handcuffs. Mr. Hill, still uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground and was therefore redirected to the ground.”
Video from passersby on the scene shows Hill as he was being detained:
“Once the situation was sorted out within a few minutes, Mr. Hill was issued two traffic citations and was free to leave,” Stahl’s statement continued. … “While we are confident in the actions that led to the stop of Mr. Hill, as with any investigation, we will wait for all of the facts to come out, along with any explanation Mr. Hill may have for his actions that initiated this unfortunate incident.”
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels announced on Sunday that one of the officers involved in the incident had been placed on administrative duties and that the department was conducting an investigation.
The officer on administrative duty has not been publicly identified. Body cam footage of the incident has yet to be released. Daniels on Monday vowed in a statement to release the footage shortly before it was released.
“In our commitment to transparency and maintaining public trust, we are releasing the body-worn camera (BWC) footage related to the recent incident involving Tyreek Hill. While standard protocol is to release body cam footage after the internal review has concluded, the available body cam footage — a combined 105 minutes 33 seconds — is being released the day following the incident to reinforce the Department’s commitment to keeping the public informed.
“The department is committed to conducting a thorough, objective investigation into this matter, and we will continue to update the public on the outcome of that process.”
Hill said Sunday afternoon that he had “no idea” why he was detained.
“It’s hard,” Hill said. “I don’t want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do. What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what those guys would have done. I just wanted to make sure I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you’re in a situation like that — put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen.”
Campbell provides detailed account of incident
Campbell provided details about his and Hill’s detainment while speaking Monday with Emmanuel Acho of Fox Sports.
Hill and Campbell were both placed in handcuffs by police outside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium as they arrived to the game. Hill had been pulled over for a traffic violation. Per Campbell, he pulled up to the scene when Hill was already detained.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on, did somebody crash?'” Campbell said. “… I’m like hold up, that’s Tyreek. So I pull over and I was just sitting there observing for a while and I see the officers using, like, unnecessary force. So I get out, like ‘Hey, hold on. This is Tyreek Hill. This is my friend. What’s going on here?'”
Campbell said that an officer told him to back up and that he complied. He said he then called team security.
“I stayed where he told me not to stand,” Campbell continued. “After a while, he told me I had to leave. I told him I wasn’t going anywhere. I wanted to be there to support my teammate.”
When Campbell declined to leave, that’s when he said he was placed in handcuffs.
“He put me under arrest,” Campbell continued. “I wasn’t cited. He put me under arrest, but he really just detained me. He put me in handcuffs — in handcuffs for like five minutes. He took them off and told me that right now I was detained and released and that’s all.
“Tyreek was in handcuffs for like 20 minutes, probably more. Team security came and was able to squash everything. Other officers pulled up — I think some superior officers pulled up. And everything worked out. But it was a crazy situation. It was not necessary.”
Campbell told Acho that one officer was “acting irrational and erratic.”
“When I got out of the car and got my hands up walking toward them like, ‘Hey, that’s my friend there, what’s going on?'” Campbell said. “The officer that was instigating everything and was overly aggressive, he came toward me. Which I felt like was the best thing to happen. It allowed Tyreek to kind of calm down, the officers to calm down.”
Campbell said he kept his hands up and ensured he was complying with officers’ commands during the interaction.
He described one officer in particular as “hostile” and said he took precautions to make sure he didn’t come across as a threat. That officer, Campbell said, is the one who placed him in handcuffs.
“He’s the one guy who was agitating everything, extremely excessive,” Campbell said. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘All the other cops are pretty cool, chill. He’s the one you have to be careful.’ It definitely was one guy.”
Hill and Campbell were both released and played in Miami’s 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill tallied 130 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Campbell was awarded the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2019 as the NFL player that best demonstrates outstanding community service and excellence on the field. He was also the recipient of the 2024 Alan Page Community Award, given annually by the NFLPA to a player who “goes above and beyond to perform community service in his team city and/or hometown.”
Campbell said Sunday was the first time he’s ever been placed in handcuffs.
Mike McDaniel commends Hill, Campbell
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel commended Hill and Campbell for how they handled Sunday’s incident during an emotional news conference Monday afternoon.
🎥 Mike McDaniel gets emotional when speaking about Tyreek Hill being detained: “It’s been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it… super proud of our guys understanding the responsibility of a platform and intending to do right by it.”… pic.twitter.com/ndyBRn8afH
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) September 9, 2024
“It’s been hard to not find myself more upset the more I think about it,” McDaniel told reporters. … “The thing that f***s me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is knowing that I don’t know exactly — I don’t what that feels like. …
“Two things did come from adversity. Super proud of teammates being teammates. Super proud of our guys understanding the civic responsibility of a platform and intending to do right by it.”
The NFLPA is monitoring the incident, ESPN reported.
