A video taken Sunday captured the moment Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill was handcuffed and placed face down on a street outside the team's stadium after he was stopped for speeding and reckless driving Sunday morning before the Dolphins' first game of the season.
The officer, who was not identified, was one of at least three involved in detaining Hill. Some fans saw Hill being handcuffed and captured video on their way to the game, and it quickly went viral on social media.
Miami-Dade Police director Stephanie V. Daniels said she had launched an internal affairs investigation.
TYREEK HILL INCIDENT
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Told after the game that the officer was placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Hill said: “That should tell you everything you need to know.”
The person who captured the incident on camera, Dylan Vega, spoke with NBC6 and described the encounter.
"I was going to the tailgate at like 10:30 a.m. and I saw a McLaren pass by me," said Vega. "It was going pretty fast, but you know, it's the Cheetah. So what do you expect?"
"[Officers] knocked on his window," Vega added. "He rolled it down, said to them, you know, do what you need to do as a police officer, and then he rolled it back up and then they asked him to roll it down again. He cracked it and they told him to get out of the car and I think he was probably saying he didn't really have to and then they threw him down."
In the video, Vega is heard yelling 'yo, chill out' to the officers.
"I probably shouldn't have said that, but you know, it's Tyreek, and if we want to win a Super Bowl, we need Tyreek," Vega said.
Daniels said in a statement earlier Sunday that she requested an “immediate review” of the details surrounding the incident, adding that the department would review available body camera footage.
NBC6 asked Vega if the officers used excessive force when detaining Hill, but he said he "didn't have an opinion on that."
"I don't think I'm in a position to make an opinion on that," Vega said. "I don't really know what's right and what's wrong in that sense, so I don't know."
Hill said he didn't want to use his celebrity to get out of the situation but wondered what would’ve happened if he weren’t an NFL star.
“I don’t want to bring race into it, but sometimes it gets kind of iffy when you do,” he said. “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.’”
Hill starred on the field for the Dolphins, catching seven passes for 130 yards — including an 80-yard touchdown that helped Miami rally for a 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill celebrated the score by mimicking being handcuffed.
"All I know is that we needed Tyreek, and we had to get him back out, and I'm glad that everybody was able to leave good, and Tyreek was able to play, and seems like everybody turned out to be winners, except for the Jaguars," Vega said.
