UNITED STATES—This is an incident that has many people talking and rightfully so, especially as an African American in this country. I’m referring to Miami Dolphin NFL Player Tyreek Hill who was pulled over by authorities within one block of the stadium where he was about to play for the team during the kickoff of the team’s first game of the 2024 NFL season.
There is still plenty of information coming out about the incident, but the video says a lot for both sides. The NFL player was arrested and detained by authorities after a traffic stop. He was speeding, doing more than 20 miles over the 40 mph speed limit and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Yes, speeding is a reason to be detained by authorities or to warrant a traffic stop. However, he was then literally YANKED out of the vehicle as the police body cam shows, placed face down into the ground, with one officer placing his knee on Hill’s back as he had his agent on the phone to hear what was unfolding.
Hill could be heard alluding to something about the officer banging on his window like he was crazy. Yes, seeing the video you would think Hill was fleeing the police or had committed some serious crime the way he was being treated by authorities for a traffic stop, a traffic stop. I could see if he had a weapon or was physically scuffling with the police. From the video I’ve seen it’s not the case; he appeared to be in compliance. At the same time, Hill should have simply complied with officers and did what they requested of him. Roll down his window, provided his driver license and stop talking. He was a bit testy with authorities and that is never a good thing.
However, this has raised a question of ‘DWB’ which many people of color know as Driving While Black. It is unfortunate, people don’t want to hear it, but it is indeed a thing. As a Black man, my parents had the conversation with me once I started driving about how to respond to the police if pulled over. You comply, you don’t do anything rash or to give the police a reason to assume or suspect that you could be up to something sinister.
I recall at the time, I didn’t understand the reasoning for the conversation, but it soon became a reality after hearing horror stories about people I knew, family and friends who were pulled over by police and literally feared for their life. I guess I can say that the invention of the cell phone and video can be captured on it. With cell phone video these troubling incidents can be captured and if police officers are in the wrong or doing something they shouldn’t they have to be held accountable for it.
Without that footage it soon becomes a case of he said/she said, and when you’re dealing with an authority figure, of course the authority is going to be seen as being in the right. This is not to say all police officers are bad or that the cops were wrong here, but the video does raise some questions about excessive force.
Now before anyone tries coming for me about potentially being anti-police, I have a family member who works in the police force. My nephew is a police officer and has been for several years, while my uncle served as a state trooper for nearly four decades. I have family who risk their lives day in and day out on the beat. So, unless you have family members doing the same thing, save any criticism you have for someone else.
It just raises a question of if officers of the law think about what they’re doing when they have body cameras that capture everything that is unfolding. Granted we still haven’t seen everything and there is still plenty to speculate on, but from what has been seen up to this point, doesn’t look great for the officers.
Hill did do a bit of a dance during the game when he scored a touchdown alluding to what happened earlier in the day, but he needs to take accountability for his actions during that traffic stop. He could have listened to officers and did precisely as they asked of him without resisting. He talked about the incident briefly during a news conference after the game, but he still has not chatted fully about the incident, but the video that has been running rampant across all the news stations is starting to develop their own narrative, and there is always three sides to a story, their side, your side and somewhere in the middle lies the truth.
Written By Jason Jones