The video shows police officers dragging Tyreek Hill out of his car after he rolled up the window

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A police officer dragged Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill from his sports car by his arm and head and then pushed him face-first into the ground after Hill rolled up his car’s windows during a traffic stop before Sunday’s game, according to body camera video released Monday.

The video showed that the altercation between Miami-Dade County police officers and Hill escalated quickly. Officers verbally abused Hill, but he did not resist their physical force or hit them. He told an officer, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Bodycam videos from six officers were released.

Police Director Stephanie Davis said the tape would not normally be released while the investigation is ongoing, but she wanted to demonstrate the department’s “commitment to transparency and maintaining public trust.”

In a CNN interview on Monday evening, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was “embarrassed” and “shocked” by the situation.

Video shows two motorcycle police officers pursuing Hill after he appeared to speed past them in his McLaren sports car in light traffic on the Hard Rock Stadium access road – they later said they clocked him at 60 mph (97 km/h). They turned on their headlights and pulled Hill over. One knocked on the driver’s window and told him to roll it down, which Hill did and handed over his license.

“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill repeatedly told the officer.

“I have to knock so you know I’m here,” the officer told Hill, repeatedly asking why the player was not wearing a seatbelt.

“Just give me my ticket, brother, and I’ll be good to go. I’m going to be late. Do what you have to do,” Hill told the cop as he rolled up his dark-tinted window.

“Roll down the window,” the officer said, knocking on the window again. Hill can still be seen inside.

Hill rolled down the window a crack and said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” He rolled the window back up.

Hill told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he rolled his window back up because he was afraid of attracting unwanted attention.

“If I roll down my window, people walking or driving by will notice it’s me,” Hill said. “And they’ll start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to make a scene at all. I just wanted to get the ticket and then move on.”

The officer again ordered Hill to roll down the window or “I’m going to get you out of the car. So get out of the car.”

The officer then ordered Hill to open the door. Another officer approached and said, “Get out of the car or I’m going to break the… window,” using obscene language.

The door opened and the second officer reached in and grabbed Hill by the arm and the back of the head as the player said, “I’m out.”

Hill later suspected that he was not moving as quickly as officers would have liked.

“I haven’t progressed quickly because I’ve had injuries,” said Hill, who was entering his ninth NFL season. “I have to go through a lot. I play a physically demanding sport.”

The second officer pinned Hill face-first to the ground. Three officers pulled Hill’s arms behind his back while Hill screamed into his cellphone, “I’m under arrest, Drew,” while speaking to Dolphins Director of Security Drew Brooks.

Officers handcuffed Hill and one pressed his knee into the middle of his back. “If we tell you to do something, you do it.”

“Take me to jail, brother, do what you have to do,” Hill replied.

“That’s us,” said an officer.

“You’re crazy,” Hill told the officer.

Officers stopped Hill and led him to the sidewalk. An officer ordered him to sit on the curb. Hill told the officer he had just had surgery on his knee.

An officer then jumped behind him and placed a bar around Hill’s chest and neck. He pulled Hill into a sitting position.

“Relax, brother,” Hill told the officers.

At that point, teammate Jonnu Smith parked his SUV in front of Hill’s car, got out and asked what was going on. Officers told Smith to get back in his vehicle and drive away, then told him they were going to give him a ticket for blocking the road.

Defensive tackle Calais Campbell also stopped. He was asked to leave and when he didn’t, he was briefly handcuffed.

Hill and Campbell were eventually released and allowed into the stadium. Hill received citations for reckless driving and failure to wear a seatbelt but was never arrested, the video shows. An officer was placed on leave. An internal investigation has been launched.

In a statement released Monday evening, the Dolphins said they had a close relationship with the police but were “saddened” by the altercation.

“As the videos released tonight clearly demonstrate, there are some officers who confuse their responsibility and dedication with misguided power,” the team said. “We commend MDPD for taking the right and necessary action to quickly release this footage, but we also urge them to take equally swift and decisive action against the officers who behaved so despicably.”

Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, defended the officer’s actions, saying in a statement that Hill did not “immediately cooperate with officers on the scene”; officers followed their procedure and handcuffed Hill, who was then “returned to the ground” after he refused to sit down.

Julius B. Collins, Hill’s attorney who appeared with him on CNN, said one officer was “the most aggressive,” but another, who first approached Hill’s car, was not aggressive at all. Hill was not aggressive either, Collins added.

“You also saw him hold his hands up to show he did not have a firearm. He was not a threat and was following the officers’ orders. As for that statement from the police union, I think the video contradicts everything they say.”

Hill, who is black, wondered what would have become of him if he wasn’t an NFL star. Some of his teammates, who are also black, said they are used to this type of interaction.

“I hate to talk like that, man, because I have a fan base that’s made up of kids,” Hill said. “But the reality is, yeah, it’s the truth. If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, the worst-case scenario we’d have a different article – ‘Tyreek Hill was shot outside of Hard Rock Stadium.’ That’s the worst-case scenario. Or ‘Tyreek Hill was handcuffed and arrested.'”

This is not the first off-field incident involving Hill.

He was accused of hitting his girlfriend in college and was kicked off the Oklahoma State team. He later pleaded guilty to domestic violence and assault by strangulation. In 2019, prosecutors in suburban Kansas City declined to charge Hill after an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancée and their three-year-old child.

Hill said Monday he wanted to make something positive out of this latest incident.

“I’m a good old country boy from South Georgia, man,” Hill said. “I’m not a big fan of dividing people.”

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This story has been updated to correct the conversion to kilometers per hour.

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Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writer David Fischer contributed to this report.

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