Stephen A. Smith Claims NFL Player Tyreek Hill Has Some Fault In Viral Police Incident

Stephen A. Smith thinks Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill should take responsibility for his recent interaction with Florida police officers.

The sports commentator argued that the NFL player and law enforcement have lessons to learn from the viral incident. The Miami-Dade police department released bodycam footage of Hill’s arrest, which revealed the heated exchange between the two parties. Police initially pulled Hill over for a traffic stop violation. However, the ordeal escalated into an officer snatching Hill out of his car and onto the ground before handcuffing him.

While agreeing that the police’s treatment of Hill was excessive, Smith also focused on what the athlete could have done better. He detailed his thoughts on the situation on the Sept. 10 episode of ESPN’s “First Take.”

“When it comes to Tyreek Hill, we also can’t let him completely off the hook based on the statement that was made by the police department in Florida,” expressed Smith. “They said he was ‘uncooperative.’ We have a responsibility on this show and any kind of platform we can do make sure we’re doing anything we can to save lives, to make sure we’re doing what we can to ensure that somehow, some way, you get to live another day and fight that battle. We know how wrong they were. The police were excessive. No excuses. They should be ashamed of themselves, the way they acted. They just went overboard. Totally true.”

However, Smith emphasized that Hill’s first response to the officers suggested his privilege as a celebrity.

“Here’s the problem – we all came on the air seeing the initial footage in complete unadulterated support for Tyreek Hill,” shared Smith. “You pull over. They tell you to roll down your window. What’s the first thing Shannon (Sharpe) just talked about? The first thing they do when they pull us over. They pull me over. All my windows are down. My hands are on the steering wheel. That is not what Tyreek Hill did.”

He continued, “Tyreek Hill had his window up. The officer knocks on his window. He didn’t bang on his window. He knocked on his window. You hesitate to pull it 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 if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ What if you aren’t Tyreek Hill? What would have happened to you if somebody wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Kept the windows rolled up, hesitated to roll it down, didn’t give the license immediately when asked for it, and then hesitated to get out of the car when they told you to get out of the car?”

According to Smith, despite Hill’s wrongful treatment by the police, his own actions did not help either. He urged everyone to be “responsible” when engaging with the police, noting they “do have the power. “

“See, we gotta be responsible,” he added. “The point I’m trying to make is this – in no way should the officers be excused for what they did… But I also am saying, ‘Yo, Tyreek, yo, bro, you didn’t deserve that. I’m not implying that you did. But the police officers do have the power. When they pull up on you, and they tell you to roll down that window, and they tell you to give them your driver’s license, and they tell you to get out of that car, that’s what you gotta do.'”

According to the New York Times, Hill has publicly asked for the officer involved’s firing as the situation wages on. The man, Danny Torres, has been on administrative leave since the incident came to light.