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Video shows officers dragged Tyreek Hill out of his car after he put his window back up

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Video shows officers dragged Tyreek Hill out of his car after he put his window back up
News

News

Video shows officers dragged Tyreek Hill out of his car after he put his window back up

2024-09-10 11:19 Last Updated At:11:20

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A police officer dragged Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill out of his sports car by his arm and head and then forced him face-first onto the ground after Hill put up the window of his car during a traffic stop before Sunday's game, body camera video released Monday shows.

The video showed that the altercation between the Miami-Dade County officers and Hill escalated quickly. The officers cursed at Hill but he did not resist their physical force or strike at them. He did tell one officer, “Don't tell me what to do.” Six officers' body camera videos have been released.

Police Director Stephanie Davis said the tape would normally not be released while the investigation is ongoing, but she wanted to demonstrate the department's “commitment to transparency and maintaining public trust.”

In a CNN interview later Monday night, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was “embarrassed” and “shell-shocked” by the situation.

Video shows that two motorcycle officers went after Hill after he appeared to speed past them at in his McLaren sports car on the roadway entering Hard Rock Stadium in light traffic — they later said they clocked him at 60 mph (97 kph). They turned on their lights and pulled Hill over. One knocked on the driver’s window and told him to put it down, which Hill did and handed him his driver's license.

“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill told the officer repeatedly.

“I have to knock to let you know I am here,” the officer told Hill while repeatedly asking why the player didn't have his seatbelt on.

“Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I am going to be late. Do what you gotta do,” Hill told the officer while putting his darkly tinted window back up.

“Keep your window down,” the officer told him, again tapping on the glass. Hill can still be seen inside.

Hill rolled the window down slightly and said, “Don't tell me what to do.” He put the window back up.

Hill told CNN's Kaitlan Collins he did roll his window back up, citing concern about drawing unwanted attention to himself.

“If I let my window down, people walking by, driving by, they’re going to notice that it’s me," Hill said. "And they're going to start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to create a scene at all. Like, I just really wanted to get the ticket and then go on about my way.”

The officer again told Hill to put his window back down or “I am going to get you out of the car. As a matter of fact, get out of the car.”

The officer then demanded Hill open the door. Another officer stepped up and said, “Get out of the car or I will break that ... window," using an obscenity.

The door opened and the second officer reached in and grabbed Hill by the arm and the back of the head as the player said, “I am getting out."

Hill later guessed that he wasn't moving as quickly as the officers would have liked.

“I wasn’t moving fast because I've got injuries," said Hill, who started his ninth NFL season. “I got things that I go through. I play a physical sport.”

The second officer forced Hill face-first onto the ground. Three officers pulled Hill's arms behind his back as Hill yelled into his cellphone, “I am getting arrested Drew," talking to the Dolphins' director of security, Drew Brooks.

The officers handcuffed Hill and one put a knee in the middle of his back. “If we tell you to do something, do it.”

“Take me to jail, brother, do what you gotta do,” Hill replied.

“We are,” an officer said.

“You crazy,” Hill said to the officer.

The officers stood Hill up and walked him to the sidewalk. One officer told him to sit on the curb. Hill said to the officer he just had surgery on his knee.

An officer then jumped behind him and put a bar hold around Hill's upper chest or neck. He pulled Hill into a seating position.

“Chill, bro,” Hill told the officers.

At that point, teammate Jonnu Smith parked his SUV in front of Hill's car, got out and asked what was going on. The officers ordered Smith to get back in his vehicle and leave. They then told him they were going to give him a ticket for blocking the road.

Defensive tackle Calais Campbell also pulled up. He was told to leave and when he didn't, he was briefly handcuffed.

Hill and Campbell were eventually released and allowed to go into the stadium. Hill received citations for careless driving and failing to wear a seatbelt, but was never arrested, the video shows. One officer was placed on administrative leave. An internal affairs investigation has been launched.

The Dolphins, in a statement released Monday night said they have a strong relationship with the police department but were “saddened” by the altercation.

“As is on full display in the videos released tonight, there are some officers who mistake their responsibility and commitment to serve with misguided power,” the team said. “While we commend MDPD for taking the right and necessary action to quickly release this footage, we also urge them to take equally swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”

Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, defended the officer's actions, saying in a statement that Hill was not “immediately cooperative” with officers on the scene, that the officers followed their policy in handcuffing Hill, who was “redirected to the ground” after refusing to sit.

Julius B. Collins, Hill’s attorney who appeared with him on CNN, said there was one officer who was the “most aggressive” but another who initially approached Hill's car was not aggressive at all. Neither was Hill, Collins added.

“You saw also, he put up his hands to show that he didn’t have a firearm. He wasn’t a threat and that he was complying with officers. I mean, you know, as far as this statement goes, though, from the police union, I think the video contradicts everything that they’re saying.”

Hill, who is Black, said he wondered what would have happened to him if he weren't an NFL star. Some of his teammates who are also Black said they were used to seeing that sort of interaction.

“I hate talking like this, man, because I have a kid fan base,” Hill said. “But the reality of it, yeah, it’s the truth. If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, worst-case scenario, we would have had a different article — ‘Tyreek Hill got shot in front of Hard Rock Stadium.’ That’s worst-case scenario. Or ‘Tyreek Hill put in handcuffs and taken in and booked.’”

This isn’t the first off-field incident involving Hill.

He was accused of punching his girlfriend in college and got kicked off the team at Oklahoma State, later pleading guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation. In 2019, prosecutors in suburban Kansas City declined to charge Hill after an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancée and their 3-year-old child.

Hill said Monday he wants to turn this recent incident into a positive.

“I'm a good ole country boy from South Georgia, man,” Hill said. “I’m not a big believer in dividing people.”

This story has been updated to correct the conversion to kilometers per hour.

—-

Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press Writer David Fischer contributed to this report.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Police body camera video shows an officer dragging Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill out of his sports car by his arm and head and then forcing him face first onto the ground after Hill put up the window of his vehicle. (Miami-Dade Police Department)

Police body camera video shows an officer dragging Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill out of his sports car by his arm and head and then forcing him face first onto the ground after Hill put up the window of his vehicle. (Miami-Dade Police Department)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) pretends to put wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) in handcuffs as they celebrate Hill's touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) pretends to put wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) in handcuffs as they celebrate Hill's touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks during an NFL football post game news conference, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Dolphins defeated the Jaguars 20-17. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks during an NFL football post game news conference, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Dolphins defeated the Jaguars 20-17. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

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