Tyreek Hill Has Watched the Police Footage

NFL player wants officer fired but says, 'I could have done better'
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 11, 2024 6:55 PM CDT
Tyreek Hill Has Watched the Police Footage
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks to journalists following a team practice Wednesday in Miami Gardens, Fla.   (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Tyreek Hill told CNN he felt like he was in a movie when he was pulled from his car, restrained, and handcuffed on his way to work Sunday in Miami. The Dolphins wide receiver has now seen that movie, after the release of police body-camera footage. Hill included regret in talking to reporters Wednesday about what he saw. "I will say I could have been better. I could have let down my window in that instance," Hill said. Still, he said Danny Torres, the officer who restrained him, should be removed from the Miami-Dade force: "He's got to go, man."

The officers pulled Hill from the car when he refused to put the window down, per Reuters, after the NFL star was stopped on suspicion of speeding. He said at the news conference that he wanted to avoid attention. "I don't want to be cameras-out, phones-on-you in that moment," Hill said. "But at the end of the day, I'm human. I got to follow rules. I go to do what everyone else would do." Although Hill said he wishes he could go back and redo that decision, he said his refusal to put the window down does not give officers "the right to literally beat the dog out of me." The department said an internal investigation has begun.

Hill's attorney, Julius Collins, called in writing for Torres to be fired, saying his use of force was "excessive, escalating, and reckless." And he said Hill's treatment is "a reminder of the realities of the many injustices that people of Black and minority communities face." Torres has been placed on administrative leave, and his attorneys described that decision as premature and called on the department to reinstate him immediately. "I still love cops," Hill said Wednesday, per CNN. He suggested that, as football players do in an effort to get better, the participants watch the video. "I think this can be a learning tool for everybody," Hill said. (More Tyreek Hill stories.)

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