Tyreek Hill said he could have handled traffic stop better but calls for officer’s firing

Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill on Wednesday expressed regret for not immediately following police orders after a traffic stop on Sunday but also called for the dismissal of the police officer who pulled him from his vehicle and handcuffed him after he refused to pull his car window down completely.

At a Wednesday news conference at Dolphins headquarters, Hill repeatedly implored Miami-Dade County to fire 27-year Miami-Dade police officer Danny Torres, who pulled Hill from his car and kneeled on his back while placing him in handcuffs and forced him to the ground again a minute later. Miami-Dade County has placed Torres on administrative duty while an internal investigation is conducted.

“Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He got to go, man,” Hill said of Torres. “Because in that instance right there, not only did he treat me bad, he also treated my teammates with disrespect.

“He had some crazy words toward them, and they ain’t even do nothing. Like what did they do to you? They’re just walking on the sidewalk. So I don’t know, he got to go. There’s not too many times that Cheetah say people got to go, but – you, out. What do they say on Wild ‘N Out? Gone.”

Hill was referring to teammates Calais Campbell (who was handcuffed) and Jonnu Smith, who both stopped their cars when they saw Hill in handcuffs outside Hard Rock Stadium, a couple of hours before Sunday’s opener against Jacksonville.

Torres’ legal representation called Hill to facilitate an apology from Torres, but Hill said he declined to accept the offer.

Hill — who received citations for careless driving and seat belt violations — acknowledged that he should have followed orders to pull his window down, but added that the police pulling him out of his car was not justified.

“I have family members who are cops,” Hill said. “We’ve had conversations. Yes, I will say I could’ve been better. I could’ve let down my window in that instant, but the thing about me is I don’t want attention. I don’t want to be cameras out, phones on you in that moment.

“But at the end of the day I’m human. I’ve got to follow rules, I’ve got to do what everyone else would do. Now, does that give them the right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, I wish I could go back and do things a bit differently.”

Hill said he was at a movie theater Monday night when Drew Brooks, the Dolphins’ director of team security, informed him that the body camera footage was released.

He left the theater to watch the footage and said he felt “embarrassed” by the situation.

“I feel like I handled myself well in that situation,” he said. “But obviously, like I said, I can be better, but it’s shell-shocking, man. It is really crazy to know that you have officers in this world that will literally do that with body cams on. It’s sad. It’s really sad. Which brings up another conversation and leads into what would they do if they didn’t have body cams? Which is even crazier. So, it’s a lot to unpack, man.”

Hill said he would not conduct any police protest at Thursday’s game or otherwise. He said he did not want to “defund the police” and said he “loves” the police and wants to be an officer one day.

Asked if he has a message for how people should handle themselves in a similar situation, Hill said: “I don’t have a message for them yet, but I’m sure I will. So ask me that question again next week sometime. I’m pretty sure I will, because right now I’m in the process of putting together a good plan so that way I can work with those guys….

“We have influence on the community and I don’t think that we should use this as a moment to separate people or divide people or make it a battle or anything like that, because I still love cops. I want to be a cop. I’ve been standing on the table for the cops, but at the end of the day right now what I’m focused on is my job and that’s to play football.”

Hill said he told his family that “what I went through the other day has happened at the right time in my life because of the way I’ve matured, the way I’ve been handling myself with my kids, stepping up as a father, just all of that. So the older I’ve been getting, the more I’ve been realizing how important it is for me to just be a pro’s pro.”