Body camera footage shows police pulling Tyreek Hill out of the car

MIAMI — Newly released body camera footage of police arrest Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill shows Miami Dade police dragging the star player out of his car and forcing him to the sidewalk before handcuffing him.

The footage shows Hill initially being pulled over for speeding as he approached Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday. It took about a minute from the time the officer got off his motorcycle and started walking toward Hill’s car until Hill was pulled over.

Upon arrival, police knocked on Hill’s car window, prompting Hill to roll down his window, hand over his driver’s license, and repeatedly ask the officer not to knock on his car window. The footage also shows the officer asking Hill to roll down his window. The incident escalated when Hill did not comply.

Hill said to the policeman, “Give me your ticket, man, let me go, I’m going to be late. Do what you have to do,” and rolled up the window.

“Keep your window down,” the officer told him, tapping on the glass. The officer paused for about five seconds and looked around. He again told Hill to keep his window down or “I’m going to pull you out of the car. In fact, get out of the car.”

After the officer asked Hill to get out of the car, Hill said, “I’m getting out, I’m getting out.” As the officer opened the door and took Hill out, the defendant said, “I’m getting out!” At that point, another officer grabbed Hill by the back of his head and neck and forced him to the pavement to handcuff him.

“It went from zero to 60 instantly, from the moment those guys pulled up behind me, tapped on my window,” Hill said in an interview with NBC Nightly News on Monday.

“I was opening the door and going out, you know what I mean, but it seemed like they wanted me to move quickly.”

Hill was able to call Dolphins security chief Drew Brooks before he was pulled from the car. The officer pinned Hill to the ground, holding him in place by kneeling on his back, telling Hill to “stop crying.”

“When we tell you to do something, you do it, you understand?” the officer told Hill. “Not when you want to, but when we tell you to. You’re a little confused.”

Hill was escorted to the sidewalk and told to sit down, to which Hill replied that he had just had knee surgery and asked the officers to “hold on.” The same officer who pulled Hill out of the car, not the officer closest to Hill, then rushed toward Hill, put his arms around his shoulders and pushed him to the ground again, at one point wrapping his arms around Hill’s neck.

The police officer was skeptical about Hill’s surgery.

“Oh really? What a coincidence,” he said to Hill. “Did you have ear surgery when we told you to roll down your window?”

Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith witnessed the scene. He parked his car a few feet away from Hill and quickly got out of his car when he saw Hill being pushed to the ground. The officers immediately asked Smith to back up and provide identification, which he did.

Smith remained about 25 feet away from Hill throughout the footage and was ultimately penalized.

Dolphins defensive player Calais Campbell arrived at the scene shortly after and was also asked to leave. Campbell walked toward the officers with his hands raised.

At some point, one of the responding police officers appeared to recognize who Hill was, although neither Hill nor Campbell admitted they were Dolphins players.

“You know who that is?” the officer asked. “One of the Dolphins’ star players.”

Campbell was eventually arrested while an officer held Hill in place with one hand on his shoulder.

When Hill complained about being held in place, the officer forced him to the ground before allowing him to sit up.

“I’ll tell you this — your job is to serve and protect, right?” Hill said. “You’re doing a terrible job protecting right now. I told you, I’m not running away. … That’s just going to make things worse.”

Hill verbally complied with police commands throughout the footage. At least one officer attempted to reason with Hill and calm the situation as bystanders filmed the incident from both the sidewalk and their vehicles.

“I’m just a black man, that’s all,” Hill said loudly. “I’m just a black man in America.”

“We’re black too, man,” a cop replied. “We’re colored too. Don’t act like it’s special.”

Hill was released after about 25 minutes, when Brooks and Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, arrived. The audio cuts out several times, but in one corner, Hill is heard telling police he will “see you all in court” before returning to his car.

“If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, God knows, I probably would have been in a worst-case scenario, I would have been shot or locked up” and “put in jail, you know, for a simple speeding ticket,” Hill told NBC News.

Hill caught seven passes for 130 yards and an 80-yard touchdown in the Dolphins’ win Sunday against Jacksonville Jaguars.

After scoring, he recalled the incident that morning by putting his hands behind his back and making way for his teammates. Jaylen Waddle to hold him back as they returned to the team’s sidelines.

Hill told NBC News that “you learn to laugh and have a good time” when it comes to celebrating.

On Monday night, the Dolphins released a statement, saying the team was “saddened by the aggressive and violent behavior directed at Tyreek Hill, Calais Campbell, and Jonnu Smith,” adding that “it is maddening and heartbreaking to see the very people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force and hostility toward these players, but it is also a reminder that not every situation like this ends peacefully, as we are grateful this one did. ‘What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ is a question that will resonate.”

The statement went on to say that the franchise “is proud to have a strong and positive relationship with the Miami-Dade Police Department and other law enforcement agencies and recognizes that the vast majority of officers serve their communities with integrity and a desire to protect all citizens. However, as amply demonstrated in the videos released tonight, there are some officers who confuse their responsibility and commitment to service with misguided power. While we commend the MDPD for taking the right and necessary action to quickly release this footage, we also call on them to take equally swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”

“We stand with Tyreek and our players as they strive to use their platform and this situation to make a positive impact in our communities. We have always believed that the game of football has the unique power to bring people together, and we remain hopeful that through the collective work of our players, organizations and community partners, we can create lasting change.”

Earlier in the day, the South Florida Police Benevolent Association also released a statement — before the body camera footage was made public — saying Hill was “uncooperative” with officers.

“Before yesterday’s Dolphins game, there was an incident where Tyreek Hill was handcuffed before being released. First, to clarify, he was never arrested. He was briefly detained for officer safety reasons after driving in a manner that put himself and others in great danger,” Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement.

“Upon being stopped, Mr. Hill did not immediately cooperate with the officers on scene, who handcuffed Mr. Hill per policy and for their immediate safety. Mr. Hill remained uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground, and was therefore instructed to get on the ground,” Stahl added.

Stahl told the Andy Slater Show that Hill “escalated” the situation and that things would have gone faster if Hill had complied.

This report uses information from The Associated Press.