Fact Check: Police Officer Who Pulled Over Tyreek Hill Had 'Bills Mafia' as His LinkedIn Background?

Claim:

A police officer involved in stopping and detaining NFL player Tyreek Hill had a Buffalo Bills background on his LinkedIn profile.

Rating:

False ( About this rating? )

On Sept. 8, 2024, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was pulled over on the way to his team's season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Officers pulled Hill, one of the team's star players, out of his car and wrestled him to the ground — an incident captured on video by several fans on their way to the game.

Hill was eventually released with a citation for speeding and scored a touchdown a few hours later. The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) launched an internal investigation into the incident, and the Miami Dolphins management issued a statement urging the department to take "swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior."

The next day, a purported screenshot of a LinkedIn profile allegedly belonging to the officer who pulled Hill out of the car received more than 1.3 million views. That image showed a profile with a "Bills Mafia" graphic background — a reference to the Dolphins' rival team Buffalo Bills.

However, the screenshot was manipulated and was most likely either a joke or intentional disinformation. In addition to the visual evidence of editing — the white profile picture border is painted over by some of the background image — it also differed from what was once a real LinkedIn profile (however, it appears to have since been deleted ).

Following the Sept. 9 release of bodycam footage from several officers involved in the incident, online sleuths claimed to have identified the officer — matching the name Manuel Batista — on LinkedIn, based on a name tag seen in the footage. A person with that name and the above profile picture did once have a LinkedIn profile with the same details as seen in the viral screenshot, but it did not contain any Buffalo Bills related imagery.

Snopes is not confirming the identification of Batista or the LinkedIn profile. Rather, we are pointing out that the screenshot was edited to include a Bills Mafia logo in the background, and that the screenshot was posted after a viral post on X that included an original image of that LinkedIn profile.

Because the image serving as the basis of this claim had been manipulated, we rated this claim as "False."

Sources:

Miami-Dade Cops Release Body-Cam Footage after Tyreek Hill Cuffed before Game. Take a Look. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article292207400.html .

"Tyreek Hill Fears He Could Have Been Shot in 'worst-Case Scenario' during Police Stop Outside Stadium." NBC News, 10 Sept. 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nfl/tyreek-hill-police-stop-miami-dolphins-rcna170253 .