MIAMI — A police officer is seeking reinstatement from administrative duty after his involvement in the now-viral interaction with Tyreek Hill, while the Miami Dolphins star’s agent has called for the officers in the incident to be fired.
Attorneys Ignacio Alvarez of ALGO Law Firm and Israel Reyes of The Reyes Law Firm, who are representing the Miami-Dade Police Department officer, issued a statement Monday calling for their client’s “immediate reinstatement.” They also referred to the decision to place their client on administrative duties as “premature,” although they “fully support” Miami-Dade PD Director Stephanie Daniels’ call for a thorough review.
Neither Alvarez nor Reyes immediately responded when asked if their statement was crafted before or after the body camera footage from the incident was made public Monday.
“We urge all parties to refrain from making public statements that may misrepresent our client’s actions and mislead the public about Mr. Hill’s detainment,” Alvarez said in the statement.
The statement said their client would not make any comment until after the investigation into the matter is finished; Alvarez and Reyes did not immediately respond to an inquiry as to how long their client has worked with the Miami-Dade PD, and whether their client had any previous disciplinary actions, incidents or investigations on their record.
During an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show,” Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, expressed his disgust for the officers’ treatment of his client.
“For me, personally, I believe the police officers that did that to Tyreek shouldn’t be in that position — they should be let go,” Rosenhaus said. “Look at the guy who kicked him — that guy should be fired. That’s out of control. The guy that jumped in and put him in a chokehold? There’s no place for a police officer to have a badge that operates like that, when Tyreek wasn’t being aggressive, or violent or fighting back in any capacity.
“That was horrendous how they treated him. They didn’t treat him like a human being.”
Rosenhaus stopped short of saying Hill agreed with his stance but added that he’d have a discussion with Hill and his attorney, Julius Collins.
Hill was pulled over for speeding while driving to Hard Rock Stadium, roughly three hours before the Dolphins’ season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The South Florida Police Benevolent Association, the police union that works with the Miami-Dade PD, released a statement Monday afternoon saying Hill was “uncooperative” with the responding officers, leading to an escalation of the situation.
Body camera footage released Monday evening showed that after a brief verbal altercation with the officer who pulled him over, Hill was instructed to exit his vehicle — but was ultimately forcibly removed from his car by a separate officer and “redirected” to the ground.
The same officer who pulled Hill out of his car also handcuffed him while kneeling on his back and forced him to the ground again after Hill was instructed to sit down on the sidewalk roughly one minute later. Hill received two citations, according to the South Florida Police Benevolent Association. Sources told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Monday that Hill received citations for careless driving and a seat belt violation.
Dolphins players Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell arrived on the scene shortly after Hill was detained. Both players were detained with Smith also receiving a citation.
Campbell, a former Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner, was briefly detained for what he said was a failure to comply. Dolphins’ defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver expressed his disbelief in Campbell’s detainment when he spoke to the media Tuesday.
“Not the man of the year? Certainly not the man of the year,” he said. “I’m actually surprised they had cuffs big enough for him. So yeah, not in a million years what I’d ever expected going into that game — that scenario to occur.”
Hill made multiple television appearances Monday night, during which he expressed his uncertainty as to why officers treated him “like a threat.” He is scheduled to speak to local media Wednesday for the first time since the body camera footage was released.