The violent arrest of dark-skinned football star Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins during a traffic stop in Miami on Sunday and the release of a video of the incident are making waves.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Dark-skinned Miami Dolphins football star Tyreek Hill was arrested during a traffic stop in Miami on Sunday.
- Police have released footage of the incident. One of the officers involved has been placed on leave for the duration of an internal investigation.
- Hill believes things could have ended much worse if he wasn't a football star. He was released shortly after the incident.
- Hill was pulled over for "reckless driving" and for "violating the seatbelt law".
"What would have happened if I wasn't Tyreek Hill?" the Miami Dolphins wide receiver asked after being detained by police officers during a traffic stop hours earlier.
He later told "CNN," "I don't like to talk like this, but it's true: If I wasn't an NFL star, at worst, the article headlines might look a little different. Tyreek Hill gets shot outside Hard Rock Stadium or something. It's crazy."
The country continues to face police violence against African-Americans. A problem that reached its interim peak in 2020 with the death of George Floyd, triggering a huge wave of protests.
The Dolphins regretted the incident in a statement on Monday evening. "It is both insane and heartbreaking to see the very people we trust to protect our community use such unnecessary force." The NFL club called for swift and forceful action against the officers "who engaged in such despicable behavior."
Reckless driving and seatbelt violations
One of the officers involved has already been suspended for the duration of an internal investigation. However, a police union said the player "did not cooperate immediately" during the stop, which justified him being "restrained". The incident occurred during a traffic stop as Tyreek Hill was on his way to Hard Rock Stadium to play his first game of the season against another Florida team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The traffic tickets published by ESPN show that Hill was pulled over for "reckless driving" and "seat belt violation". According to the report, Hill was traveling at around 60 miles per hour, the equivalent of around 96 km/h, which is based on a "visual estimate". In residential areas in Miami, the speed limit is 30 miles per hour. This is only raised to 70 miles per hour when entering the highway.
Bodycam footage: Thrown to the ground and tied up
According to the footage, a 105-minute video taken from the officers' body cameras and released by the Miami police in the interests of "transparency", the player can be seen closing the window of his sports car. The motorcycle police officer asks him several times to lower it again and threatens to pull him out of his luxurious sports car if he does not.
Shortly afterwards, the player is dragged out of the car by several officers, thrown to the ground and handcuffed, while a policeman presses his knee on the player's lower back.
Tyreek Hill, who was traveling with two other players, Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith, was quickly released after being charged with traffic offenses. He was able to play in Sunday's game and contributed to his team's 20-17 victory with a touchdown, which he celebrated by symbolically mimicking his arrest.
