Tyreek Hill’s arrest raises questions

The video has more than five million views and climbing. For a lot of people getting five million views of a video would be a good thing. Not for Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Before Hill went on to catch seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in Miami’s 20-17 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 of the NFL regular season, he found himself in a position he would rather not be in. And it was captured on tape.

The video shows Hill lying down on the street with his hands placed behind his back handcuffed with several officers surrounding him. This incident just happened to take place in front of Hard Rock Stadium, the place where Hill does his work as an employee of the Dolphins.

The video is disturbing. Yet the circumstances around Hill being temporarily detained have not been completely clarified. What is known now is that one of the officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident.

“Following the incident involving Tyreek Hills, I have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation to ensure a thorough review of the matter,” Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels in a released statement. “One of the officers involved in the incident has been placed on administrative duties while the investigation is conducted.”

Daniels also said, “I’m committed to transparency and accountability to the community and with any situation involving my officers.”

After the game, some Miami players, including the team’s starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, spoke about the incident using a cautionary approach.

Tyreek Hill should not have been forcibly driven to the ground, handcuffed and handled so aggressively for a minor traffic violation heading into the stadium before the game. Period. @cheetah pic.twitter.com/Gnu1mrIuUD

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) September 8, 2024

“I found out from a couple guys. I didn’t know that it happened,” Tagovailoa said. “I went up to ask Tyreek. Tyreek told me his story. Now I’m always going to support my teammate. I’m always going to support my teammate. From what he told me, I only know that side of the story, I don’t know the other side. But I’m always going to support him. I’m going to have his back. It was just an unfortunate deal that happened today.”

Miami head coach Mike McDaniel is glad the incident wasn’t worse.

“I don’t really know all of the details of it, outside of the upsetting portions of worried about teammates and their well-being,” McDaniel remarked. “And then I was really just happy with the way that our team came together when teammates were in need. I think I was proud of other guys jumping in to try to help a teammate. Then all the support.”

Hill said he had no clue why he was restrained in handcuffs.

“I have no idea, for real. No idea. No idea, man,” Hill said. “It’s crazy. No idea. I wasn’t disrespectful because my mom didn’t raise me that way. Didn’t cuss. Didn’t do none of that. So like I said, I’m still trying to figure it out, man.”

The whole ordeal left Hill shaken and trying to piece together what took place.

“Right now, I been trying to figure that out, too. I’ve been trying to figure that out too, man,” Hill said. “Right now I’m still trying to put it all together. So I’m not going to give you a version that I still don’t know what happened. But I do want to be able to use this platform to say ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ Like worst case scenario because it is crazy. I want to be a cop one day. I’ve got a state trooper hat and all of that, so I have a lot of respect for cops, man. Everybody has bad apples in every situation. 

Lead photo caption:

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – SEPTEMBER 08: Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) reacts after the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins on September 8, 2024 at Hard Rock Stadium in Maimi Gardens, Fl. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire)