Newly released body cam video shows detainment of Tyreek Hill | KTVU

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill and the police officers who stopped him for speeding over the weekend. This traffic stop has prompted a national debate over how the NFL star was treated by those officers, and why the situation escalated. >> Don't knock on my window like that. Why you have it up. I have to knock it. You know, I'm here. Don't knock. You can lower it and talk to you. Get my ticket, bro, so I can go. I'm going to be late, man. >> Do what you got to do. I'll keep it down. Hey, keep your window down. Get out, get out, get out, get out! What part of what you understand? Hey, drew. Hey, drew. I'm getting arrested, dude. I'm getting arrested. >> The stop happened on Sunday. As Hill was arriving at the Miami Gardens stadium for the Dolphins game. An officer told Hill to keep his window rolled down, but he refused. And that's when several officers pulled him from the car and handcuffed him. Hill was eventually released and cited for careless driving and failing to wear his seat belt. The Miami-Dade Police Department has placed one officer on administrative leave in this case, and launched an internal investigation. Joining us now to talk more about this situation is Doctor Sean Fletcher, professor of public relations and sports communications at San Jose State University. Professor, thank you for sharing your perspective on this today. When you watch this video. The body camera video. Why do you believe this traffic stop ended the way it did with Tyreek Hill on the ground in handcuffs. >> Well as we've become all too familiar with these scenes certainly over the past five or so years I'll say for American discourse the people within the black and brown community in particular black men, we've become familiar with this narrative since we were adolescents. We've become familiar with the talk, quote unquote, of how to try to disarm and shrink yourself to a certain extent, to not lean into some of the prevailing stereotypes that that society plagues us with. That could potentially be an issue and a matter of life and death. And in this particular situation, and let me, let me be very matter of fact, I do believe that there is a shared responsibility between citizen and police officers to ensure both go home safely. However, in this instance, it appears by all accounts with the hour and five minutes of body cam footage that was released last night, that there was an abuse of power and excessive force from the time that the officer knocked on the window until there was a knee in Tyreek Hill's back all the way leading up to some of the back and forth dialog that took plac. So saddening yet again, to see a very familiar scene play out. >> Yeah. And you know, you talk about shared responsibility and obviously there is a great debate happening right now about, you know, who who bears responsibility for what transpired during this stop. I want to put up on the screen what the police union in Miami said about this situation. And this was part of the statement that they put out. Their statement said Mr. Hill was not immediately cooperative with the officers on the scene, who, pursuant to policy and for their immediate safety, placed Mr. Hill in handcuffs. Obviously, we have heard from Tyreek Hill since that he said he wanted to keep his window rolled up. So people who were driving into the game wouldn't see that he was getting stopped by the police. That was his explanation here. But obviously professor, you know some people will watch that video and they will wonder, well, why didn't Tyreek Hill just do what the officer was telling him and keep his window rolled down? >> There's a lot of whys and uncertainty as we're replaying this. And hearing the accounts from both sides. But at the end of the day in the moment when we continue to see inconsistencies in how police protocol and policing again in particular of brown and black men, that is what is most shocking to me in these types of situations, because if there was consistency across the board, perhaps we can have a dialog as to who was at fault within all of this as to whether Tyreek Hill should have known that his his tent was potentially putting the officer in peril, or the officer realized that when Tyreek Hill realized that ultimately I'm opening the door, but possibly too slowly that that quick temper in terms of now it's too late for you to get out on your own accord. I'm going to pull you out. And now I'm going to alongside my officer colleagues, I am going to forcefully almost make a statement because he was talking to him as he was doing these actions. So from both angles, it appears as though there is, again, a shared responsibility. But from a policing standpoint, from the individuals that we look to, to make sure that we are safely adjudicated in the moment. I continue to see inconsistencies because I will recall you back to the Scottie Scheffler situation. Famous pro golfer who earlier this summer found himself in a similar situation where the officer alleged that he had dragged him on his car as he was evading police protocols and cones. And I will call you call to your attention that Scottie Scheffler was pulled from the car. He was booked, he was put into an orange jumpsuit and at no point did he find himself on the ground, face down with a knee in his back. So I continue to see inconsistencies in how men of color are policed in these situations. >> Obviously, we know that there is an internal investigation happening within the department here. One officer already on administrative leave. What do you think is important for the department to, you know, in terms of how they resolve this situation? What what what are your expectations about how they resolve this? >> Everyone is entitled to due process, even the officers involved. Not just the one that is being singled out because we saw that there was a collection of officers who had an opportunity to de-escalate at this point and try to let cooler heads prevail. And not one of them did that. In fact, we saw Calais Campbell, the former NFL man of the year, in handcuffs, trying to de-escalate the situation for everyone involved. And he broke no laws. My hope is that they will do a thorough