Tyreek HillThe arrest ahead of the Miami Dolphins’ season opener on Sunday has many people speculating on who’s to blame, especially since bodycam footage from police officers on the scene showed the incident.
However, An NBA great The media has been criticized for turning Hill’s detention into a story about race.
Charles Barkley appeared on Fox Sports 910 in Phoenix, where he took aim at the media.
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College basketball analyst Charles Barkley on the broadcast prior to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four Championship Game. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“I don’t like the fact that we’re blowing it up in the media because you know people are going to get into race pretty quickly, and that bothers me,” Barkley explained. “We have a lot of idiots in the media that like to play the race card. I said, ‘Wait a minute, they did the same thing to Scottie Scheffler.'”
Barkley is referring to an incident before the first round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this year, where Scheffler, PGA Tour The star, who won the Masters Tournament this year, was arrested.
Barkley also said Hill mishandled the situation.
He said, “The one thing you can’t do as a celebrity is you can’t say, ‘Do you know who I am?’ You can say, ‘Yes, sir,’ be 100 percent cooperative. “Like I said, I don’t know what happened, but when we let these idiots on TV and radio talk about it, they straight up say, ‘Was it racism?’ I say, ‘Wait a minute, we don’t know that.’ I saw the police report that said he was uncooperative.
“But one thing I hate is when we put something out in the media, and we let racist people throw things out there that, like I said, wait a minute, the same thing happened with Scottie Scheffler, who actually went and got booked! He went to the big house.”
ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith also spoke out on the incident, saying Hill was not blameless.
“The problem is we all came in looking at the initial footage and were totally, totally in support of Tyreek Hill,” Smith said on “First Take.”
“You stop the car, they tell you to roll down the window. What’s the first thing Shannon (Sharp) just said? When they stop us, what’s the first thing they do? They stop me, roll down all my windows. My hands are on the steering wheel. Tyreek Hill didn’t do that.
“Tyreek Hill had his window up. The officer knocked on his window. He didn’t bang on her window, he banged on his window. You hesitate to pull him down. The first thing you say is, ‘Don’t bang on my window like that.’ He asked you for your driver’s license. You hesitated to give him your driver’s license. You said in the postgame conference, ‘Hey, y’all, what would happen if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ What would happen if you weren’t Tyreek Hill? What would happen to you if someone who wasn’t Tyreek Hill had his windows up, hesitated to put them down, didn’t give his license right away when asked and then hesitated to get out of the car when you were asked to get out of the car?
“Look, we have to be responsible. What I’m trying to say is this – in no way should the officers be excused for what they did… But I’m also saying, ‘Yo, Tyreek, yo, bro, you didn’t deserve that. I’m not saying you deserved that. But police officers have power. When they come up to you, and they ask you to open the window, and they ask you to give them your driver’s license, and they ask you to get out of that car, that’s what you have to do.'”
According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, Hill was charged with reckless driving and a seat belt violation during the traffic stop that happened just minutes away from the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, #10, runs with the football against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the first quarter on September 8, 2024 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Sam Navarro-Imagen Imagen Images)
Bodycam shows the tense moment when officers pull Hill out of his car after the star receiver objected to officers knocking on his car window. He was handcuffed on the ground in the middle of traffic.
Hill was found to be in violation of Florida Statute 316.1925, which states “Any person driving a vehicle upon streets or highways within the state shall drive the vehicle in a careful and prudent manner, having due regard to width, gradients, turns, corners, traffic and all other circumstances, so as not to endanger life, limb or property of any person. Failure to so drive shall be reckless driving and a violation of this section.”
Hill was said to be going “visually estimated at 60 mph” in a 40 mph zone.
When Hill was handcuffed, Hill’s Dolphins teammates Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell tried to intervene, but the officers issued them citations as well. They stopped the car to make sure Hill was OK, which can be seen in bodycam footage.
“The body-worn camera depicting the interaction between members of the Miami-Dade Police and Mr. Hill is difficult to watch, but it serves as a reminder that we must always strive to do better,” Miami Police Department Police Chief Manuel Morales said in a statement.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill speaks during an NFL football post game news conference Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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“Regardless of any involvement by Miami Police, I pray that we move forward and use this incident to forge a stronger partnership between our professional athletes, the community, and the brave men and women who have sworn to protect us all. When we work together, we all win.”
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