Tyreek Hill begged teammates ‘don’t leave me!’ as he was being handcuffed before Dolphins’ Week 1 opener, says Miami’s Calais Campbell

Tyreek Hill begged his Dolphins teammates “don’t leave me” as he was handcuffed by Miami-Dade police prior to Sunday’s Week 1 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in South Florida.

As Dolphins defensive back Calais Campbell told ESPN’s First Take, Hill’s arrest in Miami Gardens was “a crazy situation” and “absolutely unnecessary” because of the physical force police used on Hill.

Campbell was driving to the game when he noticed a lane blocked. When he got out of his vehicle to check out the situation, he saw his teammate being pulled over by a Miami-Dade police officer.

“Then I saw Tyreek in handcuffs and I thought, wow, that’s a big deal,” Campbell told Stephen A. Smith & Co. “They were really physical with him, so I got out of the car,” he continued. “I don’t know if I have the ability to de-escalate this, but I’m going to try because this is someone I care about, this is a friend of mine.”

Smith, who would later criticize the Miami-Dade Police Department’s handling of the situation, asked Campbell to carefully review the story and detail the allegations of unnecessary force.

“They tried to pull him to the ground. I saw them kicking him, pulling him down, cuffing him… one officer pushed on his head. Totally unnecessary.”

Officers were eventually issued a ticket for reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt. Campbell, who was briefly handcuffed for “failing to comply with a direct order” from an officer, was not issued a ticket.

One anonymous officer has been suspended following the incident.

“Of all the officers that were there, there was really only one that was extreme,” Campbell said. “Everybody seemed to be doing what they were supposed to do.

“One officer was a little bit superior. He told me I wasn’t listening to him, so he held me down too. He put handcuffs on me.”

Although he has not faced any legal trouble, Campbell disputes the accusation that he disobeyed the officer’s instructions.

“I obey, do whatever he tells me to do,” Campbell said. “I just wanted to make sure I was there to support my teammate, especially as a black man in America, just all the different things that happen to police officers in certain situations.”

To calm the officer down, Campbell said, he walked toward him with his hands raised.

“So I got out, put my hands up, and walked over to him. I said, ‘Hey, I’m a friend of his, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think this situation is absolutely unnecessary.’

‘He said to me, ‘Back off! Back off!’

The same officer who Campbell said was too aggressive with Hill ordered the veteran defense attorney to leave the scene of the accident because his car was blocking traffic.

Even when the office threatened to tow Campbell’s car, Hill’s teammate refused to leave the scene of the accident.

“This is my friend right here,” Campbell told ESPN. “I’m here to support him, I’m not leaving.”

Eventually, the officer became frustrated and handcuffed Campbell, then took his driver’s license information and let the 38-year-old man leave.

But Campbell and another teammate, Jonnu Smith, were not so quick to abandon Hill.

“He said to Jonnu, ‘don’t leave me, don’t leave me,’” Campbell said.

In response, Smith and Campbell told Hill they were there for him and supported him.

Following Campbell’s testimony on the broadcast, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith strongly criticized the Miami-Dade department’s handling of the situation.

“I didn’t see what they were doing when he was face down on the ground,” Smith said. “All you saw was officers surrounding him and cuffing him; but then when he was stood up — with his hands cuffed behind his back — and a second officer came and forcefully sat him down, that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the ease with which dehumanization occurs when it comes to black men.”

Hill’s agent Drew Rosenhaus also said his client did not deserve to be handcuffed ahead of Miami’s home game on Sunday and predicts the All-Pro receiver will take legal action against South Florida police over the incident.

“What happened to Tyreek today at the stadium is completely unacceptable,” Drew Rosenhaus told DailyMail.com in an email after watching his client get cited for speeding and reckless driving in Miami Gardens on Sunday. “Tyreek did not deserve to be treated this way by the law enforcement involved. Tyreek’s legal team will be pursuing this matter on Tyreek’s behalf and I am sure they will consider taking legal action.”

Rosenhaus, who lives in South Florida and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, was in the car with Hill on Sunday when the Dolphins receiver was pulled over by police as he approached the stadium.

The exact details of the incident are not yet known, but bystanders captured Hill being handcuffed and laid face down in the street by Miami-Dade police, one of whom has since been suspended in connection with the incident.

The South Florida Police Benevolent Association has since released a statement defending the Miami-Dade Police Department’s handling of the situation.

“There was an incident prior to yesterday’s Dolphins game where Tyreek Hill was placed in handcuffs prior to being released,” Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement. “First, to be clear, he was never arrested. He was briefly detained for the safety of officers after driving in a manner that put himself and others in grave danger.

“Upon being apprehended, Mr. Hill did not immediately cooperate with officers on scene who, in accordance with policy and for their immediate safety, placed Mr. Hill in handcuffs. Mr. Hill, still uncooperative, refused to sit on the ground and was therefore led to the ground,” Stahl added.

‘When the situation was resolved within a few minutes, Mr. Hill was issued two traffic tickets and was allowed to leave.’