Tyreek Hill says he could have handled his traffic stop better but he still wants the officer fired

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill acknowledged Wednesday that he could have handled himself better in the initial moments of a weekend traffic stop that left him handcuffed and pulled out of his car by police officers near the team's stadium.

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

Hill said he wishes he did some things “a bit differently” on Sunday morning, including leaving the window of his car down when officers instructed him to do so. He rolled up the window instead. The incident escalated quickly from there.

“I will say I could have been better,” Hill said. “I could have let down my window in that instant. But the thing about me is, I don't want attention. I don't want to be cameras-out, phones-on-you in that moment. But at the end of the day, I'm human. I've got to follow rules. I've got to do what everyone else would do.

“Now, does that give them the right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not,” Hill continued. “But at the end of the day, I wish I could go back and do things a bit differently.”

Miami-Dade Police Director Stephanie Daniels launched an internal affairs investigation on 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 have said they want “swift and strong action” against all the officers involved.

Hill did not mince words when detailing what action he thinks should be taken against the officer.

“Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He’s gotta go, man,” Hill said. “In that instant right there, not only did he treat me bad, but he also treated my teammates with disrespect. He had some crazy words towards them and they didn’t even do nothing. Like, what did they do to you?"

Hill was pulled from his car near the team's stadium less than three hours before kickoff of Miami's Week 1 game. He was placed on the ground and handcuffed, and teammate Calais Campbell — who drove by the scene and stopped in an effort to play peacemaker — also was handcuffed by police during the incident.

Hill was cited for careless driving and failing to wear a seatbelt.

The Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, and Hill said he would use the game as therapy, an escape from thinking about the incident. He said he would not take a knee — a move many players have used in recent years to protest police brutality — or call for the defunding of police. Hill has said several times in recent days that he has respect for police officers, and he intends to pursue work in law enforcement when his playing days end.

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

Hill rolled down the driver’s side window and handed his license to an officer who had been knocking on the window. Hill — an eight-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards last season — then told the officer repeatedly to stop knocking before rolling the darkly tinted window back up.

After a back and forth about the window, the bodycam video shows an officer pull Hill out of his car by his arm and head and then force him face-first onto the ground. Officers handcuffed Hill and one put a knee in the middle of his back.

Hill can be heard in the footage yelling repeatedly that he'd just had surgery on his knee as officers forced him to the ground. The receiver said Wednesday he had a minor stem cell procedure on his knee this offseason in Antigua. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel called it a procedure that Hill “makes sure that he takes care of.”

Hill said he was inside a movie theater Monday night when he received word that the footage was released. He left the theater to watch it and said he hopes people seeing the video — both civilians and law enforcement — use it as a means to learn and get better, even drawing the parallel to the way that football players improve when they watch game film.

“It’s shell-shocking, man,” Hill said. “It’s really crazy to know that you have officers in this world that would literally do that with bodycams on. It’s sad. It’s really sad. Which brings up another conversation and leads into ‘What would they do if they didn’t have bodycams?’ Which is even crazier.”

Lloyd Howell Jr., the executive director of the NFL Players Association, said the organization has reached out to Hill and Campbell to provide them with “necessary support,” though he didn't specify what that support was.

“I think on a go forward basis, it’s a function of communication," Howell said. "No matter what your circumstances are, is take care of yourself, your family and hopefully that’ll translate to the field. That’s where things are now.”

NBA player Bam Adebayo said he believes Hill should have adhered to the officers’ demands and left his window down when instructed. He also said it was difficult to watch what happened next.

“For me, it’s the yanking him out of the car, throwing him on the ground, the knee on the back and you can kind of hear him speak but because the officer has such weight on his back he can barely speak,” the Miami Heat captain said. “I don’t ever want to get pulled over and catch a cop on a bad day. It’s a reminder that they don’t care who you are. Some of it escalated to a point where it could have gotten ugly for him. We’ve seen this story a lot, countless times.”

The altercation, and what was seen on the six officers’ bodycam videos, has again brought to the forefront conversations surrounding the experience of Black people with police — something that has been a national talking point for some time.

Hill has been involved in off-field incidents before, though teammates spoke out this week to condemn those who used Hill’s past allegations of violence to justify any excessive use of force. McDaniel said Wednesday that Hill continues to grow as a person, and that he has spoken to him on multiple occasions about why that matters. He also acknowledged that Hill could have handled the incident differently, without revealing specifics.

“A conversation about what provoked unnecessary,” McDaniel said, “is trivial to the unnecessary.”

AP Sports Writer Will Graves contributed from Pittsburgh.

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

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks to journalists following a team practice, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks to journalists following a team practice, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

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), Miami Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios (0) celebrate a touchdown by Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) scores a 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 walks on the field during a team practice session, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) catches a pass during a team practice session, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

This body cam image released by the Miami-Dade Police Department shows Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill being arrested during a traffic stop, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (Miami-Dade Police Department via AP)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill walks on the field during a team practice session, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) gestures as he calls for the police officer involved in his traffic stop to be fired, during a press conference following a team practice, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The last time Khadija Ahidid saw her son, he came to breakfast in 2021 looking “homeless” with big hair so she offered to give him $20 so he could go get a shave or a haircut that day. Hours later, he shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in the college town of Boulder.

She saw Ahmad Alissa for the first time since then during his murder trial on Monday, saying repeatedly that her son, who was diagnosed after the shooting with schizophrenia, was sick. When one of Alissa’s lawyers, Kathryn Herold, was introducing her to the jury, Herold asked how she knew Alissa. Ahidid responded “How can I know him? He is sick,” she said through an Arabic interpreter in her first public comments about her son and the shooting.

Alissa, who emigrated from Syria with his family as a child, began acting strangely in 2019, believing he was being followed by the FBI, talking to himself and isolating from the rest of the family, Ahidid said. His condition declined after he got Covid several months before the shooting, she said, adding he also became “fat” and stopped showering as much.

There was no record of Alissa being treated for mental illness before the shooting. After the shooting, his family later reported that he had been acting in strange ways, like breaking a car key fob and putting tape over a laptop camera because he thought the devices were being used to track him. Some relatives thought he could be possessed by an evil spirit, or djinn, according to the defense.

No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter. Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. The defense says he should be found not guilty because he was legally insane and not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors and forensic psychologists who evaluated him for the court say that, while mentally ill, Alissa knew what he was doing when he launched the attack. They point to the planning and research he did to prepare for it and his fear that he could end up in jail afterward to show that Alissa knew what he was doing was wrong.

Alissa mostly looked down as his mother testified and photographs of him as a happy toddler and a teenager at the beach were shown on screen. There was no obvious exchange between mother and son in court but Alissa dabbed his eyes with a tissue after she left.

The psychiatrist in charge of Alissa's treatment at the state mental hospital testified earlier in the day that Alissa refused to accept visitors during his over two year stay there.

When questioned by District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Ahidid said her son did not tell her what he was planning to do the day of the shooting.

She said she thought a large package containing a rifle that Alissa came home with shortly before the shooting may have been a piano.

“I swear to God we didn’t know what was inside that package,” she said.

Dougherty pointed out that she had told investigators soon after the shooting that she thought it could be a violin.

After being reminded of a previous statement to police, Ahidid acknowledged that she had heard a banging sound in the house and one of her other sons said that Alissa had a gun that had jammed. Alissa said he would return it, she testified.

She indicated that no one in the extended family that lived together in the home followed up to make sure, saying “everyone has their own job.”

“No one is free for anyone,” she said.

FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)