Tyreek Hill pleads not guilty after his detention sparks outrage

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill plans to appeal two traffic tickets he received during a traffic stop outside Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, according to online documents from his attorney.

Hill has pleaded not guilty to the counts of careless driving and driving without a seatbelt – the two minor traffic violations that were at the center of a standoff with police in which the Dolphins star was forcibly dragged from his car and briefly handcuffed. The tickets carry a total fine of $308, while the careless driving penalty would also result in three points on his license; the minimum for a license suspension in Florida is 12 points in 12 months.

“The two subpoenas will be heard in court,” Hill’s attorney Adam Goodman confirmed in an email to USA TODAY Sports Thursday evening.

Goodman did not provide further details when asked why the 30-year-old NFL star did not plead guilty, but legal experts said there could be a variety of reasons for the move. If Hill intends to file a lawsuit against Miami-Dade police, some say a potential civil suit could be strengthened if the reasons he was stopped in the first place were removed. Others said it could be because he has the financial means to fight back or simply because he believes he has committed no violations.

“A lot of normal people would do exactly what he’s doing,” said Lawrence Krieger, a professor at Florida State University School of Law. “It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

In the written plea, Goodman asked the state of Florida to provide information about the speed measuring device used by Miami-Dade police prior to the traffic stop. Officer Manuel Batista wrote in the subpoenas that Hill was traveling about 60 miles per hour in a heavily traveled area near Hard Rock Stadium prior to the Dolphins’ season-opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to a “visual estimate.” The speed limit on that stretch of road is 40 miles per hour.

Although Hill was not directly ticketed for speeding, his speed appears to be cited in the tickets as a key factor in the allegation that he was driving recklessly. And if Hill’s speeding was based solely on an officer’s estimate, that could be a way for him to contest the tickets, according to Tim Jansen, a Florida criminal defense attorney who has represented athletes accused of wrongdoing.

“He clearly has a basis to contest the charges. And he has the means to contest the charges,” Jansen said. “I can’t predict his motive, what they’re trying to accomplish with this, but I’m sure he has good counsel who has instructed him to plead not guilty.”

In the body camera footage, Hill appeared to admit to officers that he was driving 55 miles per hour before the stop, but that would not stop him from contesting the violations.

“People fight traffic tickets for two reasons,” added Cleveland-based attorney Danny Karon. “They believe they are innocent, or they have enough money to force the state to meet its burden of proof, which is beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The minor traffic violations led to a confrontation with police that made national headlines and reignited long-standing debates about officers’ use of force.

According to bodycam footage, at least three Miami-Dade police officers removed Hill from his car after he rolled up his window during the traffic stop despite being asked not to do so and to exit the vehicle. Officers took Hill to the ground, handcuffed him, and then forced him to sit on a nearby curb, where he remained for about 15 minutes. One of the officers involved in the traffic stop, 27-year-old Danny Torres, has since been placed on administrative duties pending the results of an internal investigation into his conduct.

Hill reiterated Thursday that he believes Torres should be fired, but also acknowledged that he “could have handled himself better” during the traffic stop.

“Does that give them the right to literally beat me up? Absolutely not,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, I wish I could go back and do things a little differently.”

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on social media @Tom_Schad.

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