Miami-Dade’s two sheriff candidates both criticize officer conduct in Tyreek Hill video

The Democratic and Republican candidates for Miami-Dade County sheriff on Tuesday both said they were disturbed by what they saw on the body-camera footage showing county police officers roughly grabbing Miami Dolphins player Tyreek Hill from his car and shoving him to the pavement Sunday morning near Hard Rock Stadium.

“I was disturbed by the one officer’s behavior and words that were used,” said Rosie Cordero-Stutz, the GOP nominee for sheriff and a county police administrator who is on leave from her job for the fall campaign. “It is unacceptable behavior from any law enforcement officer.”

James Reyes, her Democratic opponent, oversees the police department as Miami-Dade’s chief safety officer. He said direct criticism of an officer can jeopardize the agency’s internal investigation of the Sunday incident, but Reyes was also broadly critical of what the public saw Monday night when the county released the body-cam footage of the Hill traffic stop blocks from Hard Rock.

The body-cam footage showed Hill berated by an officer as being “f-----g confused” after he was yanked from his sports car and pushed to the street to be handcuffed. Calling the profanity “concerning,” Reyes also criticized the “discourtesy component” of the police response. “That’s not something that is subject to the discretion of the officer,” he said.

Both candidates made the comments in a Tuesday meeting with the Miami Herald Editorial Board ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Miami-Dade is electing an independent sheriff for the first time since the 1960s, the result of a change in the Florida Constitution. Currently, Reyes reports to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who has authority over all county police.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade cops release body-cam footage after Tyreek Hill cuffed before game. Take a look

The Miami-Dade Police Department has taken action against one of the officers involved, Danny Torres, who was reassigned to administrative duties on Sunday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Levine Cava released a statement that did not name Torres but singled out an officer for criticism.

“The body-worn camera footage from the incident involving Tyreek Hill makes it clear that the detaining officer acted in deeply troubling ways that warrant a full internal review,” she said. “Miami-Dade County is committed to upholding trust between law enforcement and the community we serve, and to do that it’s critical we ensure there is accountability for any officer who is found to use unnecessary force.”

A lawyer for Torres this released a statement calling the reassignment unjustified. “We call for our client’s immediate reinstatement, and a complete, thorough, and objective investigation,” the statement read.

Levine Cava, a Democrat, promoted Reyes from Corrections director to chief safety officer in late 2023 ahead of his run for sheriff . The new post put him in charge of both jails and police, along with the county’s Fire Rescue Department.

The county’s release of the body-cam footage Monday night marked a full reversal from the police department’s statements hours earlier that the agency would not make the footage public until it concluded its investigation into the incident.

Reyes said those statements, made through a police department spokesperson on Sunday and Monday, was in error and that the agency’s director, Stephanie Daniels, never set that as policy.

“I can’t tell you why someone would say we weren’t going to release the video,” he said. “At no time did the director advise me we’re not releasing the video.”

Levine Cava’s office said the mayor agreed with the decision by Reyes and Daniels to release the video, which she endorsed before the footage became public.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Reyes said Tuesday. “This community deserves no less.”

Like Reyes, Cordero-Stutz — an assistant Miami-Dade Police Department director overseeing investigators — said Florida law related to investigations of police officers restricts how much supervisors can comment on incidents without jeopardizing potential future disciplinary actions.

She also highlighted a Justice Department program called “ABLE” she wants to bring to Miami-Dade. It focuses on training officers to intervene if they see a colleague cross a line into misconduct.

“It is a training program that teaches tactics and strategies to officers in order to deescalate and minimize these kinds of situations from occurring,” she said. “We need to change the culture. We don’t just do that by saying ‘change.’ We need to give our officers the tools that they need.”