(NewsNation) — The police union for officers in Miami-Dade said in a statement Monday that Dolphins football player Tyreek Hill was “not immediately cooperative” during a traffic stop before the team’s first game of the season.
Meanwhile, the wide receiver’s agent says Hill is considering taking legal action, telling the Miami Herald that his team “will be pursuing this matter on Tyreek’s behalf.”
Hill was handcuffed and placed face down on a street outside the team’s stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Sunday morning after being stopped for speeding and reckless driving.
Saying he respects police officers, Hill added he has “no idea why” police placed him in handcuffs.
“I wasn’t disrespectful because my mom didn’t raise me that way,” Hill said. “Didn’t cuss. Didn’t do none of that. Like I said, I’m still trying to figure it out, man.”
The South Florida Police Benevolent Association said Hill was issued two traffic citations, after which he was free to leave.
“He was briefly detained for officer safety, after driving in a manner in which he was putting himself and others in great risk of danger,” the association said. Hill then refused to sit, the association said, and “was therefore redirected to the ground.”
“Based on what we know, we stand with the actions of our officers but look forward to further open communication moving forward,” the South Florida Police Benevolent Association said in a statement.
Miami-Dade Police Director Stephanie V. Daniels launched an internal affairs investigation following the incident, and one of the three officers involved was placed on administrative leave.
It was body camera footage that led to this decision, Miami-Dade Police director Stephanie Daniels told the Miami Herald.
When he was told of the officer being put on leave, Hill said: “That should tell you everything you need to know.”
Defensive tackle Calais Campbell, who was also briefly handcuffed after coming to his teammate’s aid, said, “That makes sense based on the situation.”
“They were trying to yank him down to the ground,” Campbell said Monday on ESPN. “I saw them kick him and pull him down, I mean, pulling (on) the cuffs; shoulders looked like they were messing up. They kind of got him down. I feel like one officer was pushing on his head.”
Hill, who is Black, said he didn’t want to use his celebrity status to get out of the situation.
“I don’t want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what that guy or guys would have done. I was just making sure that I was doing what my uncle always told me to do whenever you’re in a situation like that: ‘Just listen, put your hands on the steering wheel and just listen.’”
The Miami Herald reports that cellphone footage shot by drivers passing by Hard Rock Stadium shows that a police officer gave Hill less than one second to comply with a warning about keeping his window down, before ordering him out of his car. That officer then cursed at Hill as he was handcuffed while having a knee in his back, the newspaper reported.
“What happened today to Tyreek at the stadium is completely unacceptable,” Hill’s agent Drew Rosenhaus said to the Miami Herald on Sunday. “Tyreek did not deserve to be treated that way by the police involved.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
