Former NFL quarterback Cam Newton has criticized Tyreek Hill’s behavior during his recent arrest by police prior to a Miami Dolphins game.
Hill was pulled from his car near the team’s Hard Rock Stadium less than three hours before kickoff of Miami’s Week 1 game.
The Super Bowl winner was taken to the ground and handcuffed. Teammate Calais Campbell, who drove past the scene and stopped to make peace, was also handcuffed by police during the incident.
Bodycam footage of the incident, released last week by Miami-Dade police, showed the traffic stop quickly escalated after Hill rolled up his car window.
Hill has since acknowledged that he could have handled himself better in the early stages of the incident, but he also wants one of the officers involved in the incident fired from the force.
Dolphins star Tyreek Hill was dragged from his car and placed in handcuffs earlier this month
Newton told Hill, “You can’t do that,” referring to Hill rolling his window back up in front of police
Newton, who played 11 seasons in the NFL and was named MVP in 2015, has criticized Hill’s behavior during the incident.
In an episode of his podcast “4th & 1,” Newton scolded Hill for deciding to roll up his window in front of police officers.
He said, ‘Bro, right there – obey! I’m just trying to keep you alive.
“I don’t talk to Tyreek Hill any more than I talk to anyone else who gets pulled over on a daily basis.
‘If you roll the window down, and you roll the window back up, bro, don’t do that. You can’t do that.
“It puts you in danger, and you have to put yourself in the officer’s shoes. He doesn’t know what’s in that damn car.”
Hill received two tickets, including one for reckless driving on the way to Hard Rock Stadium and not wearing a seat belt.
Police body camera footage of the incident was released, showing officers telling Hill to “stop crying” and “do what we tell him to do.”
In another clip, an officer was seen knocking on Hill’s driver’s side window and telling him to roll it down, before removing the receiver from his black McLaren 720s coupe.
According to police, Hill was pulled over for allegedly driving 60 mph.
Hill has accused one of the responding officers, Danny Torres, of using excessive force
Hill accused one of the responding officers, Danny Torres, of using excessive force during the arrest.
Torres, who has been suspended six times in his 27-year career, has been suspended from active duty as Miami-Dade police launch an internal investigation into the matter.
His previous suspensions ranged from five to twenty days.
In an interview with Taylor Rooks after the incident, Hill recounted how an officer tried to provoke a reaction from him during the arrest.
“That happened a lot,” Hill said. “Every time I was handcuffed behind my back, the officer would squeeze my neck. Like he was trying to get me to do something.”
Hill later admitted he had only seen the footage once, while his wife and mother have seen it “over 100 times” and grow angrier with each viewing.
“Let’s not get angry, let’s learn,” Hill told his family. “Because the more angry we get, the more I feel like we’re going backwards. It’s all about accountability on both sides.”