What If I Wasn't Tyreek Hill?" Attorney breaks down Hill's recent arrest and explains your legal rig

[Music] well happy Thursday everybody come on in welcome to rooted in progress um if you're in your car if you are listening to this Wherever You Are um stop and just thank him just for being here look at that I don't know who you serve but I serve a mighty God and I am just so grateful to be here today because it has been a time Terence how are you feeling I am good I am really good so hey much better much better man I'm blessed to be here today be here right now and be here with everyone out there listening and and and tuning in to this lovely podcast yes we have a good one for y'all today uh it's a conversation it's a topic that a lot of people have been discussing it has been Making Waves all across social media it's been in our newscast we're talking about what happened with Tariq Hill it has basically reignited this conversation about police brutality excessive force particularly um with with the black community and black men and I I I think it it it's one of those conversations that hits home particularly for for us you're black man terance uh what has it been like for you not only seeing these videos but knowing that you have to educate yourself educate your son on how to deal with the police well you know again back in the day we talked about this earlier was that you used to have the talk you know that talk being birds and bees now that talk in addition to that of course it's how what to do when you're pulled over right what do you do what do you do when you pulled over when you get pulled over and with my son even my daughter my daughter's 20 been for a while what do you do you just try your best to be polite obey yes sir no sir yes ma'am no ma'am and some of y'all might say something no you don't sell out you don't want to do hey man listen we'll let Justice do his do his thing I want to live to see another day so yeah you know it's tough it's tough de yeah it's one of those things where uh I think we can all agree it's a little nerve-wracking when those police lights come on and you see them in your rearview mirror um but imagine it for folks who skin color is black um it it it's just a little different so for folks who may not uh remember or have seen what happened to Tariq Hill let's let's check out some body camera footage and his response keep your window down keep your window down I'm going to get you out of the car as a matter of fact get out of the car give me your ass get out of the car give me your ass we break that freaking window get out of the car get out of the car right now we're not playing this game get out get out get out get out get out damn what part of doll you understand hey Drew hey Drew I'm getting arrested Drew I'm getting arrested followup to that do you think you did anything wrong in this situation do you think that your attitude could have been different to the police do you think you could have kept your window down what have you I could have been better you know I could have let down my window you know in that instant now does that give them the right to literally beat the dog out of me absolutely not we have influence on the community and I don't think that um we should you know use this as a moment to you know separate you know um people or divide people or you know make it a battle or anything like that man cuz I still love I still love cops all right so we just heard from Tariq Hill and you know it's hard to watch from both sides and we know that there is blame on both sides and I think I think that's fair uh I have to bring in our guest because she is such a phenomenal woman she is an incredible person if you haven't uh met her before but she wears so many hats she's a state representative she is an attorney a boss one at that a woman of Delta Sigma Theta here she is Miss Michelle Rainer thank you for joining us un rooted in progress thank you we can I'm y'all can hear me we can hear you yeah let's go thank you Lord got all of you he he is a mighty wonder he does great wonder workk God he's a wonder workking God listen I I just want to jump right into it Michelle like what was your reaction when you saw that video personally so I have so many thoughts so many feelings so obviously you know I'm an attorney I'm a criminal defense attorney yeah and I do civil right I practice civil rights law and so for me I even in the capacity that I hold as a state rep as an attorney I still get nervous I still get feel away I still get that pit in my stomach when I see the lights behind me and uh I I get pulled over here's the thing there is a higher um burden I would say um for lack of a better word for law enforcement than regular people um let's just say all things being equal that this officer when he got up to the vehicle did not know who Tyreek Hill was right let's just say he didn't know however when he knocked on the window Mr Hill rolled down gave him his gave him his ID rolled his window back up which is not a crime to do he gave him what he asked him for rolled his window back up it was in that moment the law enforcement officer had to decide who he was going to be in that moment and what it seemed to me looking at it is that it was like who does he think he is to push back against my authority and then that's when you saw him knocking on the window and of course you know Mr Hill got up said like well don't don't knock on my stuff like that listen I don't have a Lamborghini or whatever he has I have a regular for Fusion I don't want you knocking on my window like that right I feel you so so and it escalated and to me it was incumbent the officer to deescalate that situation and he did not deescalate it ego was involved all of those things were involved Mr Mr Hill did not break the law he complied with what the officer asked him to do now did he have an attitude sure that that's not for me to to to to make a judgment on but I think that even when you comply and say no ma'am and yes ma'am and yes sir and no sir we have seen black people killed for Less yes by doing that right we've seen people killed while they are complying yeah so they comply and say yes sir and no sir they get killed they have a bit of an attitude because you knock in on my six figure window right right and you it hard and then You Yank me out the car what and to the Dolphins point the the organization's point this could have ended in an incredibly different way right yeah so to me the responsibility is on the officer that has the training he did not deescalate this situation as he should have and has he as he's supposed to have been trained to deescalate the situation you bring up a good point you you said Tariq putting up his window was not against the law and so what legally can we and can we not do when we're pulled over by a law enforcement officer right the first thing you do pull over do not like do not flee do not take off down the road do not do any of these things pull over pull over when the lights in the siren flash there's a that is the law you pull over so number one pull over number two when the officer comes to your window crack it whatever I would say roll it down so they can see that there's nothing else in there that could uh potentially they feel to be a harm or threat to them hello how yes answer the and then answer the questions that are asked of you I tell my clients do not give these extra do not give all these extra answers nobody asked you for that what is your name can I see your registration and ID give that to them be done with it yeah now you can roll your window back up I've done it look out you know look because you know when I'm you know I drive to tassy it's hot I'm rolling my window back up look through your real view mirror when they come back roll it down roll it back down how so you can do that if they ask you to step out the car you know there's there's that gray area where you know some folks say you don't have to some folks say you do if you feel safe then step out the car I tell people I tell clients I do it myself I call some or I video the I video the interaction myself and I am a lawyer in a state representative wow because I have been in situations with law enforcement even in the capacity that I'm in I like Mr Hill I didn't say who I was I don't do that I don't say well I'm Ser I don't do all of that I don't I don't do that but as a human being there's dignity that you're I'm supposed to be afforded especially if you're right but at what point do the officer say you weren't compliant or my order is the law when it comes to stepping out of the car like correct and that is where to I think terence's Point earlier we got to fight that out in court right we got to fight that out in court that if you don't step out the car are you resisting right right if you don't step out of the car and they got to pull you out of the car you hire a lawyer that looks at the facts that puts the facts up against the law and then we either file a motion go to trial or go to the prosecutor ask for it to be dismissed based on you know was this was was this person actually resisting yeah well and my my thing is you heard Tyreek say in the interview that I could have been better back to your point Michelle is that yes the officers can train are trained to deescalate the situation is that something that Tyreek could have had that had that mindset beforehand or again to your point these officers are trained to deescalate the situation so Tyreek could have been just a straight up rude individual still does not give him the right to that officer the right to be as rude as he did now what Tyreek did do after he mailed don't stop hitting my window he gave the information his registration all that and he proceeded to roll up the window because he thought that officer was going to walk back to his vehicle like we like you said we all do it's hot it's it's Florida we GNA roll the windows up I'm not going to sit there with the window down but again as a black male you know what do I do yeah what do I do well one if I was tyri lawyer I would tell him not to have said that like he could have been better I like sir what no no baby don't do that yes but but I also appreciate that he's trying to take accountability for his actions right so I also appreciate that in this in in that sense from the video that I watched when he said to him R stuff and he said just give me my ticket in the article that I read other articles that I read as well he was like I know that he was going to give me a ticket I'm on the way to the game I you know I didn't tell him who I was I didn't say I'm I played for the Dolphins I didn't do any of those things he and he is very clear he's not above the law and so I know that there were comments coming in like he's not like we like that he knows that like we know that like that's fair assessment um I don't think having an attitude being annoyed I have clients right now that got arrested that I'm going to trial on because they were annoyed that they got pulled out the car and had to go through a DUI whatever and then their blood alcohol isn't the DU like they they they're not drunk right but they're annoyed you have the right as a human to be annoyed and I think also the officer to the point um that I think has been made you know he ought to check his attitude when he has to deal with the community because it seemed like there was already a chip on him as well and I don't know what that's about but that's just me watching the the video as someone who is outside of this so I appreciate Mr Hill for wanting to take accountability take responsibility for how he maybe could have on himself deescalate the situation or been better but once again I have to say the onus is not on him he is not the trained law enforcement officer the onus is not on him the onus is on the law enforcement officer who stops and has that encounter with Mr Mr Hill Law Enforcement Officers are trained to deal with people who are jerks train to deal with people who have attitudes train to deal with people who have good attitudes so that to me I feel like we're getting away from it's the law enforcement officer that should have deescalate the situation it is his responsibility to have done that and he escalated a situation that had no need to even go as far as it went it was a simple traffic stop give the man his ticket keep and go do you think that's why we see um for those who don't know do you think that's why we see the fact that that officer is on administrative leave right now yeah I mean I think that he's on administrative leave for a lot of reason I think that there's I think that there's should be if there's not already investigation to Prior conduct uh prior uh see if there's prior complaints that he's had with the community how if this is his first time behaving in this way I also think that if Tyreek Hill did not play for the Miami Dolphins um as my uh as my Aid had had he had to let me know cuz I don't do sports ball um he had to let me know that Tyreek uh heill has a a multi-million dollar knee like he's the fastest man in the NFL I didn't know that because I I don't know who I didn't know who this man was before need you to steud up on the subject for you come let me tell you thank God that I have the aid that I have because I would not have known he he had to tell me I said who is this person um so um but if Tyreek Hill was not all of those things yeah I don't know if this particular officer would have been on administrative leave and I don't know we would have ever seen this body Camp that's real and in fact the Miami day police they they put out an initial statement right and they released the body camer footage and when they released the body cam footage they put out a statement that said now normally we wait until a certain time or after a certain uh process has happened before we released the body camera footage but this is what they said they said but um to be transparent we're going to put out the body camera footage baby I baby I would like for them to be transparent all the time I want them to be transparent I want them to be transparent when there's not a multi-million dollar need on on on the line I want to be transparent when there's not a multi-million doll football team that is involved I want them to be transparent when it's little taquan walking down the street with his friends I want them to be transparent then yeah so once again you can't pick and choose when you're going to be transparent either you're gonna be transparent period right or you're not that's real once again if Tyreek H was not who he was would there be this level of transparency and I can tell you having dealt with the Miami Dade uh County Police Department and other cases that I'm well aware of I can probably with you know with certainty tell you that it would not have been this transparent right what what's the lik Hood let's let's play Let's Be hypothetical here if let's say um the the officers maybe get fired or something like that Tyreek Hill actually called for the officer to be fired um who who who did all of this and who's currently on administrative leave what's the likelihood that then prosecution happens is that going to be something on uh on Mr Hill to do so Mr Hill can certainly bring a civil matter if he feel if he he feels and his attorneys feel that there's something that Rose to the level of them bringing a civil matter and he can prosecute this civil okay I don't believe that there will be any criminal action taken place uh by the uh State's Attorney um down there one for a lot of reasons but um but the specifically um State Attorneys are very very uh weary when it comes to actually Prosecuting Law Enforcement Officers because the state attorney is also law enforcement right and so they get a little bit timid a little bit I don't want to do that they when it comes to Prosecuting other uh Law Enforcement Officers actual police officers sworn deputies those kinds of things because one they have to work with them right one they have to they have to have a relationship of trust right they are both on the quote unquote same side so they get a little like I don't know get a little apprehensive about doing that so rarely do you see especially in the State of Florida um I can only recall a handful of times I'm thinking about uh the case in uh Palm Beach where the officer killed the young black man um Corey and I'm I'm blanking on his last name um young black man was standal ground issue but they prosecuted the officer I mean but that's what I mean like you don't you R rarely see it even even in the event of someone dies you rarely see it so I don't believe that uh the state attorney down there I would be very surprised if she brought any type of criminal charges against this particular officer let's backtrack real quick Michelle you were saying that if you're if a officer tells you to get out the car when does it get to the point where I feel like I'm not going to step out the car because I feel like my safety um my life could be in danger or I just don't feel safe stepping out of the car you also brought up the fact of perhaps calling someone can you kind of elaborate on that not just calling someone but perhaps getting someone out there and as we saw with the body cam footage he had some teammates to ride by to check on his wellbeing to record detained too and they got detained as well yeah and so there's a couple of things one um if you find yourself in that situation you can ask for their supervisor to come out there you can ask for another set of eyes um you can call someone you can say the thing that you don't feel safe um getting out um and um and I hate to say this y'all and I'm trying to think of a politically correct way to say it it depends on the officer right it depends on the officer it doesn't I can't and I I saw this Meme and John uh turn John Morgan put this up and it was like you have a hundred good officers but you have two that are bad or one that's bad but the hundred don't talk about the two that makes all 10 two bad wow wow and at some point the good law enforcement that we have the good police that we have right you got to talk about the two that aren't good you got to say you're making the job that I have sworn to do that I want to do that I believe in serving my community you are making it difficult the man that pulled Tyreek you are making it difficult for me to do my job and so that that I think is like when you don't know who you're getting that's it when you encounter police officers when you don't know who you're getting you don't know if you're getting someone that is a racist you don't know if you're getting someone that is a misogynist you don't know if you're getting someone that doesn't that skirts the rule of law and that because they have an authority and badge they feel like they can when you don't know who you're getting yeah it makes it hard whether you're black white red purple gay straight it makes it hard for you to have that trust and once again that's not on the community that's on law enforcement yeah and the sad thing about it is you know that officer's attitude is uh a choice yeah my skin color and I think thect I I love where what you're saying Michelle because I'm I'm looking at comments um continuously rolling in here and someone said uh Kimberly follow the law and you won't have an issue he should have been in jail I am going to keep an un I'm going to say an unbiased question wow as an attorney yeah Michelle did Tariq Hill do anything that would have warranted him to go to jail no did he do anything that deserved him to be shoved on the ground the way he did and manhandled the way he did no and and I can promise you if Tariq was Tyler Terren Terren but he wasn't black I don't believe he would have been pulled like right exactly I see what you're going absolutely yeah Tyler Hill yeah yeah blueeyed I yeah I see where you're going with that absolutely if he was Thomas if he was Thomas Brady you think Tom Brady's getting pulled out off off a Bay Shore oh man tough you think that's you think Tom Brady even I don't know sportsball and maybe officer that doesn't know sportsball but do you think Tom Brady is speeding on bashore because he does is speeding on bore getting pulled out his car come off of Davis Island when you treat people the same yeah Michelle is shaking the table and here's the reality of the situation I understand that you follow the law baby then let's let's keep that same energy with everybody right exactly not just with the ones that don't look like you yeah and here the thing it's okay to to check that bias that you have because we all have it yeah yeah but if you are in a place of trust in the community you got to like we no baby no I I love this conversation I feel like it creates a a space to where we look at this at a a 30,000 foot level with this issue of police brutality we look at this issue of escalation um from from our officers and from law enforcement we have seen it locally um we have we have the case of Antoine Glover um video went viral for a very long time and this was cell phone video not even not body worn camera video released by The Police Department cell phone video got released of a young man in Lakeland P County his name is Antoine Glover and he um was pulled over they say he resisted arrest they pulled out of his car and they did that we're taking a look at some video right now if you are listening officers Lakeland police officers beating him tasing him on the ground uh for a while and they they brought all these charges um for Antoine against Antoine Glover and ultimately um the state attorney dropped those charges once the state attorney got this case um all of those charges were dropped now here here's another layer to Antoine's case Antoine was recently arrested again now here's a part that Michelle has an issue with here spare to say that it's the same officer who arrested him and and and punched him who arrested him again so here in lies the question you had these officers do these things at the state of attorney said they shouldn't have done because those charges were dropped but that officer is still working for the Lakeland Police Department Michelle what are your thoughts on that and and what's how how I would throw my computer but I'm on it right um one why is that officer being able to reencounter Mr Glover again right yeah and so heiz the issue I arrested you I beat the mess out of you I beat the dog snot out of you right the charges get dropped no criminal charges are brought against the officers and I'll deal with that in a minute but I'm sure there was a conversation that he may have had with his Superior like be be very clear that there was some repercussions professionally may not be like on his IAL record right but there something and then I come back and encounter you again and rearrest you for whatever I don't know what those what those arrests are for I don't I can't make a decision if it is was an appropriate arrest or not but nonetheless I reencounter you again yeah and then I arrest you it feels like to me it feels like it's harassment wow wow and if I'm that officer and I and I'm like this is the guy that I arrested before and all this happen maybe it would behoove you to say I'm not gonna get involved and let me go get someone else to do this let's take a step further or or take a step back let's take a step back and I'm sure the the comments are blowing up about this oh I mean I'm sure I'm sure your com if I'm Mr Glover when if I'm Mr Glover when has the lesson been learned when when I I got off or you know I got in trouble this one time why or what is it that I'm doing to attract the police officers again well according to the police uh Glover ran a stop sign so Mr Glover why are you running a stop sign Mr Glover but no Terence you and I are goingon to disagree on this my guy but it goes back to Tyreek Hill and the situ the conversation he had and the statement he made was that I could have been better Mr Glover I could have not ran that stop sign but did he did he but here's the thing running a stop sign is not does not warrant an arrest now maybe running a stop sign and running a stop sign and I see cocaine I don't know if this happened but I see cocaine there was there was weed there was weed in the car however hold on hold on hold on hold on I'm just going to spit the facts however okay Mr Glover has a medical marijuana license so this was one of the same stipulations from the initial arrest because they said he had marijuana in the car during the initial arrest as well but of course later through the investigation they found out that he did have a um medical marijuana card card so the same officer know now should should know this I that's for that's that's for y'all attorneys man I'm telling you what are the chances of you getting pulled over by the same exact cop and you guys have a it's almost you know Lakeland is as big as that as big as that uh Studio you in come on now oh don't do our studio now right our studio pretty big though so listen but listen what I mean to say is come on now like that's not unreasonable within the l City Limits that he would pulled over by the same officer especially if that's the area that he Patrol that's not unreasonable or unlikely what is unreasonable and unlikely is that officer who should have known yeah that that was Mr Glover and that should have known that he had a medical medical marijuana card that's come out through this investigation cuz y'all beat the mess out of him I think whether you are tari Hill whether you are Antoine Glover um whether you are Tyler who Tyler who in these comments Pat Lewis whether you're Marty Noth whether you're Patty Henderson whether you're Tracy Lin regardless right you're a human and you deserve to be treated with respect by people who are trained to interact with you regardless of whatever the situation may be so I think what the the overall thing with this conversation Michelle that I that I want to get your your thoughts on is what can we do in our community to protect ourselves as Citizens when we're faced in the when we're faced with these situations what can we do as people citizens just to protect ourselves you know I think that that's a hard question as just citizens because I feel like policing is a relationship right and just like you're in a relationship it can't just be one person doing all the work right yeah so I think the community we you know we get pulled over you know you make your phone call you video you whatever you are you're as polite as you can be we understand politeness and respectability doesn't always save you but you know it's better than the alternative right but what I also think that with law enforcement we have to get real serious about and and I say this and I don't say this disrespectfully but I say this as a fact law enforcement started out slave patrollers here in the United States they would go and en captured and they would go and try to recapture enslaved black people that is how the police force started in the United States so we have to talk about that pricious history that is what is in law enforcement yeah and then once we understand that and that may not be John Q Deputy he may be like yo I don't you know that's not me but I understand the psychology of the relationship of of of people to law enforcement specifically people of color to law enforcement then now as an officer how do I make sure that I'm reestablishing a relationship of trust I'm reestablishing a relationship of community and once you do that and we have seen it it's not something that we haven't seen we have seen it when you go the extra mile when you reestablish that relationship of trust and relationship like listen I have a job to do like I mean I can't just let you run around here and you know commit crimes so I have a job to do right but in that me doing that job I understand that you're human I understand that you are worth dignity I understand that this is a community that I have chosen to serve and how am I going to do that and that's all people are asking no one's asking them asking law enforcement let them go commit crime mean some people but like the majority of people are not asking the them to just let them get off we're just asking come together at this table we have a relationship let's rethink let's reimagine what policing and community policing looks like in our community and that's where I think that we we do that and then what I think other people want is the the good officers to call out the bad ones and say don't do that yeah don't do that because you do that you make our you put the breakdown in our relationship with the people yeah wow yeah that's that's good stuff that's good stuff that's good that's good and I'll say this too um you know we have to be in defense mode um we have to to me I I tell my son son I'm sorry but you're going to always have to ride with your guard up you know you might be running around riding around with your seat lean back and your m music bumping but you also gota people still do that man yeah they do keep your you also got to keep in in your Forefront that if you get pulled over what type of cop is going to pull you over it's going to be a cop that's going to be you know hey you're young 16year old male um don't do it again or you going to get a cop that's going to be have a bad attitude having a bad day and you may not walk away from that and I'll I'll I'll leave us with this we are not here to say and and I think Michelle said this just beautifully that every cop is this way that the relationship between law enforcement and the black community is bad because of every law enforc officer out there in the community that is not the case we know there are for everyone for for every I think Michelle said it earlier for every 100 good cop for all of the one for 100 good cops there's one bad one right but again we still have to hold the bad ones accountable because they're the ones that's causing this exactly um um the conversation in which we are having so Michelle we appreciate you we got to bring you back yes and we going to bring you to our little lze Studio okay um and don't do me don't do me we are going to to bring you back your your knowledge your your expertise it's it's impeccable um and you do so much in our community for one thank you for all that you do um for the folks here in Tampa Bay for the State of Florida um if y'all want to know a fighter and not fist fighter but a fighter for our rights you're looking at her so we appreciate everything that you do um and we always going to be rooting for you here on rooted in progress I'm rooting for you too and thank youall so much thank you so much thank you thank you we'll have her back and we going Terence we going to bring her to a little Lakeland yeah we going bring a little L we might even let her drive to Lakeland and then give her the location where we are so hey y'all we want to leave you with this be kind to one another stay safe out there um and and ultimately love be be filled with love and filled with respect um this is such a a safe space here at rooted in progress yeah we might disagree um and we may see some things you don't like but but nonetheless we love that you all are a part of the conversation and most of all we may have technical difficulties also that stay with us but that may happen hey we're here live every Thursday we're going to see you back here next Thursday we're live at 11 a.m. on wfla.com the WFLA Facebook page be sure to follow us like us on Apple podcast Spotify and on YouTube if you haven't done so now please do so but for now we'll see y'all on Thursday um also my birthday is Monday so y'all better tell happy birthday shout out to Deanna and de and our birthday thank you guys so much sh out to who we out [Music]