Stephen A. Smith giving his thoughts on Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill's detainment. Everyone in the sports world was shocked Sunday morning when
video surfaced of the "Cheetah" getting cuffed by Miami-Dade police officers not far from Hard Rock Stadium. Hill was issued two citations (careless driving and seatbelt violation) and still managed to play in the game a couple of hours later. The wide receiver caught 7 passes for 130 yard and a touchdown in a Dolphins comeback win. But after Hill's impressive showing, all of the attention turned back to his detainment. Especially after the
body camera footage was released , which certainly didn't show the Miami-Dade police in a great light, but also didn't exactly exonerate Hill. That's what ESPN's Stephen A. Smith brought up on
First Take . Smith said that the video definitely displayed the authorities somewhat escalating the situation, though Hill wasn't totally blameless in the situation either:
"When it comes to Tyreek Hill, we also can’t let him completely off the hook based on the statement that was made by the police department in Florida. They said, quote-unquote, he was uncooperative. We have a responsibility on this show and any kind of platform that we have to make sure we’re doing what we can to save lives. To make sure that we’re doing what we can to ensure that somehow, some way, you get to live another day and fight that battle. We know how wrong they were. The police were excessive, no excuses, they should be ashamed of themselves, the way they acted, they just went overboard." I'd say using the word overboard is appropriate when talking about how the Miami-Dade police carried themselves. However, Smith went on to say that things might have gone down a little more smoothly if Tyreek Hill would have just followed the orders from the officers:
"Here’s the problem, we all came on the air seeing the initial footage in complete, unadulterated support for Tyreek Hill. You pull over, they tell you to roll down your window, what’s the first thing Shannon (Sharpe) just talked about? The first thing they do when they pull us over, when they pull me over, all my windows are down, my hand’s on the steering wheel, that is not what Tyreek Hill did." And specifically, Tyreek rolled his tinted window back up after the police told him to roll it down. That ultimately caused the authorities to remove Hill from the vehicle, as Stephen A. continued to explain:
"Tyreek Hill had his window up, the officer knocks on his window, he didn’t bang on his window he knocked on his window, you hesitated to pull it down, the first thing you say is, ‘Don’t bang on my window like that.’… He asks you for your driver’s license, you hesitated to give him your driver’s license. See, we got to be responsible. The point I’m trying to make is this, in no way should the officers be excused for what they did. … I also am saying, ‘Yo, Tyreek, yo, bro, you didn’t deserve that, I’m not implying that you did.’ But the police officers do have the power. When they pull up on you and they tell you to roll down that window, and they tell you to give you your driver’s license, and they tell you to get out that car, that’s what you got to do." You can hear more of Stephen A. Smith's thoughts on Tyreek Hill's detainment in the video clip from
First Take below: https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1833515811023024582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1833515811023024582%7Ctwgr%5Eb9f155105cae40dea82a054e2cc18e38eded7ae9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrobible.com%2Fsports%2Farticle%2Fstephen-a-smith-tyreek-hill%2F