Dolphins player Tyreek Hill says he could have handled some elements of traffic stop better

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill acknowledged Wednesday he could have handled himself better in the early moments of a traffic stop this weekend that left him handcuffed and pulled from his car by officers near the team’s stadium.

Hill also said he wants one of the officers involved in the incident fired from the force.

Hill said he wished he had done some things “a little differently” Sunday, including leaving his car window down when officers asked him to do so. Instead, he rolled the window up. The incident quickly escalated from there.

“I would say I could have been better,” Hill said. “I could have rolled down my window at that moment. But the thing about me is I don’t want to draw attention to myself. I don’t want to be under cameras, I don’t want to be under phones at that moment. But at the end of the day, I’m human. I have to follow the rules. I have to do what everybody else would do.”

“Does that give them the right to beat me up? Absolutely not,” Hill continued. “But at the end of the day, I wish I could go back and do things a little differently.”

Miami-Dade Police Commissioner Stephanie Daniels launched an internal investigation Sunday afternoon and one officer was transferred to administrative duties. That officer, Danny Torres, wants to be immediately reinstated, his attorney said this week. Meanwhile, the Dolphins said they want “swift and strong action” against all officers involved.

Hill did not mince words when detailing the actions he believes should be taken against the officer.

“Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He’s gotta go, man,” Hill said. “At that point, not only did he treat me badly, he treated my teammates with disrespect. He said some crazy things to them and they didn’t even do anything. Like, what did they do to you? They’re just walking down the sidewalk. He’s gotta go, man.”

Hill was pulled from his car near the team’s stadium less than three hours before the team’s Week 1 game kicked off. He was taken to the ground and handcuffed, and teammate Calais Campbell — who happened to be driving by and stopped to try to play peacemaker — was also handcuffed by police during the incident.

Hill was cited for reckless driving and failing to wear a seat belt.

The Dolphins will play the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, and Hill said he will use the game as therapy, a way to escape the incident. He said he will not kneel — a gesture many players have used in recent years to protest police brutality — or call for defunding the police. Hill has said repeatedly in recent days that he has respect for police officers and intends to continue his work in law enforcement after his playing career is over.

“Right now I’m focused on my job, which is playing football,” Hill said. “That’s all I can be, the best football player I can be.”

Body camera footage of the incident, released by the Miami-Dade Police Department Monday night, showed the traffic stop quickly escalated after Hill rolled up his car window.

Hill rolled down the driver’s side window and handed his license to a police officer who was knocking on the window. Hill, one of the best and most dynamic players in football, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards last season, then repeatedly asked the officer to stop knocking before rolling up the tinted window.

After a back-and-forth around the window, the body camera shows an officer pulling Hill out of his car by the arm and head, then forcing him to lie face down on the ground. The officers handcuffed Hill and one of them kneed him in the middle of the back.

Hill said he was in a movie theater when he learned the footage had been released Monday night. He left the theater to watch it and said he hoped people who saw the video — both civilians and law enforcement — would use it as a way to learn and improve, even drawing a parallel to how football players improve when they watch game footage.

“It’s shocking, man,” Hill said. “It’s really crazy to know that there are police officers in this world who would literally do that with body cameras. It’s sad. It’s really sad. Which leads to another conversation and leads to the question, ‘What would they do if they didn’t have body cameras?’ which is even crazier.”

The altercation, and what was seen on body camera videos from the six officers, has once again brought to the forefront conversations around the Black experience with police — a national talking point for some time.

Hill has been involved in off-field incidents before, but his teammates this week condemned those who used Hill’s allegations of violence to justify excessive use of force. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Wednesday that Hill continues to grow as a person and that he has spoken to him repeatedly about the importance of that. He also acknowledged that Hill could have handled the incident differently, without revealing specifics.

“A conversation about what caused the useless,” McDaniel said, “is trivial compared to the useless.”