The Miami-Dade Police Department released body camera footage on Monday afternoon from the incident that left both Miami Dolphins players Tyreek Hill and Calais Campbell detained briefly ahead of their season opener on Sunday.
Hill was detained by police after being pulled over on an apparent traffic stop while he was on his way to their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he was seen in handcuffs on the ground just a few blocks away from Hard Rock Stadium. Campbell said he stopped to try and de-escalate the situation, and he was detained by police, too. Both players were released in time to play in the game as scheduled.
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels announced Sunday that one of the officers involved in the incident was placed on administrative duties and that the incident was under investigation. Daniels released body camera footage Monday night, and Hill posted a very short message on social media shortly after.
CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones obtained the footage first and shared a thread of it on social media. The first video he shared showed an officer on a motorcycle pulling Hill over. It’s unclear how fast Hill was driving at the time, or if he had committed any infractions. Hill appeared to comply with the officer’s instructions in the first video.
The following videos include 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
A second video showed Hill interacting with officers while he was on the phone with his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Three officers pulled Hill out of the car and put him in the ground after Hill briefly rolled his window up.
Next video shows the interaction from when the officer approaches Tyreek Hill’s car until his detainment. It sounds as though Hill called his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, while in the car get before being pulled from his car pic.twitter.com/XytuySDPag
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 9, 2024
A third video showed Hill in handcuffs being sat on a curb, and he warned officers that he had recently had surgery on his knee. Campbell then showed up and was told by officers to step back. Campbell did so with his hands raised.
Dolphins teammates stop quickly after Tyreek Hill being placed in handcuffs. Hill tells officers he had surgery on his knee. Calais Campbell appears on the sidewalk and is instructed by an officer to step back, which he does. pic.twitter.com/vPJTW0xW4t
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 9, 2024
A separate video from Fox Sports 640’s Andy Slater showed a different angle of the incident.
More videos show officers learning who Hill was. Campbell then is seen being placed in handcuffs.
Calais Campbell, standing at some distance from Tyreek Hill, is then approached by an officer and told to leave. He’s placed in handcuffs and an officer says that he’s under arrest. pic.twitter.com/lKC3nAYciL
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 9, 2024
Jones shared a third angle of Hill being pulled out of his car, which showed an officer with his knee in Hill’s back as he was being placed in handcuffs.
“When we tell you to do something, you do it. Do you understand?” an officer shouts at Hill. “Do you understand? Not what you want, but what we tell you.”
The Dolphins released a statement on Monday night, saying they were “saddened by the overly aggressive and violent conduct directed” toward Hill, Campbell and Jonnu Smith.
“It is both maddening and heartbreaking to watch the very people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force and hostility towards these players, yet it is also a reminder that not every situation like this ends in peace, as we are grateful this one did,” they said in part. “‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ is a question that will carry with resounding impact. … We will stand by Tyreek and our players as they work to use their platform and this situation to make a positive impact in our community.”
The Dolphins also called on the Miami-Dade Police Department to take “swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”
Tyreek Hill had ‘no idea’ why he was detained
Tyreek Hill said after the game that he had “no idea” why he was detained in the first place.
“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, who won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2019, told Fox Sports’ Emmanuel Acho on Monday that one of the officers was being “hostile” despite him following their commands during the interaction. It was that officer who he said put 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 was definitely one guy.”
At least one Dolphins player, cornerback Jalen Ramey, called for the officers involved to be fired after the footage was released.
That shit is crazy when you look at that body cam footage more than once! I notice some new bullshit every time smh
— Jalen Ramsey (@jalenramsey) September 9, 2024
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel commended both Hill and Campbell for how they handled the incident on Monday afternoon in an emotional news conference.
“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.”
Hill has vowed through his attorney to explore “all legal remedies.” The South Florida Police Benevolent Association said in a statement on Monday that Hill was “not immediately cooperative.”
The investigation is still ongoing. In total, police said they released more than 105 minutes of body camera footage from the incident.
