We don't yet know what happened with the police and Tyreek Hill. We may never know the full story. We may never know why Hill ended up in handcuffs outside of Hard Rock Stadium just hours before a game. But this is what we do know: it all looks disgracefully, horribly, disgustingly familiar.
It looks like, based on video footage, excessive force was used. It looks like, as Hill's teammate Calais Campbell told ESPN on Monday, that Hill was kicked while he was handcuffed. "They were trying to yank down him to the ground," said Campbell, "I saw (an officer) kick him. Pull him down...put on the cuffs."
It looks like, as Campbell also alleged, that at least one officer was out of control. It looks like something we've seen before. The video footage of a Black man complying. Surrounded by officers. Those cops going too far despite the person not being a threat. It looks like something we've seen again and again and again. It looks like police abusing a Black man. Not solely infringing on his rights but also infringing on his right to exist.
It looks like something that's happened so many times, in so many places in this country, it feels like some sort of evil Groundhog Day.
Most of all, perhaps, it looks like Tyreek Hill is lucky to be alive. That is not hyperbole. This isn't overstating. Based on recent history, this is a fact.
Interactions between Black Americans and police can, and often do, easily end up this way. We can go down the list starting with the obvious case of the murder of George Floyd. Blackness can be devalued by large swaths of law enforcement. It's seen as something to be held in check and overly controlled, even violently so.
Calais Campbell says he was handcuffed, trying to defuse Tyreek Hill detainment
Six law enforcement officers in Mississippi pled guilty to beating and sexually assaulting two Black men. Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by a group of officers after a traffic stop in Tennessee in 2023. There are numerous other examples and the commonality is the lack of care for Black life.
Two years after Floyd's murder, the Washington Post reported that the killing of Black people by police was still happening at a higher rate than other groups.
“It’s bad and it’s sad, but it’s not shocking that we’re still being killed at a higher rate,” said Karundi Williams, the CEO of re:power, a national organization that trains Black people to become political leaders, to NBC. “When we have moments of racial injustice that is thrust in the national spotlight, there is an uptick of outrage, and people take to the streets. But then the media tends to move on to other things, and that consciousness decreases. But we never really got underneath the problem.”
Floyd's interaction with police started as routine and ended up as a national tragedy. But what happened to Floyd was far from unusual. That's why it's not wrong to say that what happened to Hill could have been far worse. In fact, Hill likely knew this instinctively. Campbell said Hill called out to him: "Don't leave me, don't leave me."
Hill is also right when he told reporters after the game, what if he wasn't a famous NFL player? Think about how bad things are when the police are this aggressive with a well known athlete, on an NFL Sunday, in front of an NFL stadium? What if this was Tyreek Jones, in a different part of Miami, with no video cameras or teammates closely watching?
"Excessive force on a Black man, that's not uncommon," said Hill's teammate, safety Jevón Holland, in the locker room after the game, according to a video posted by NFL Network reporter Cameron Wolfe. "That's a very common thing in America, so that needs to be addressed on a countrywide level. It's not uncommon...for cops to do that type of sh--. Especially to Black men."
Campbell said he was also detained and handcuffed because he refused to leave the scene since he was understandably concerned for the safety of Hill. It should be noted that Campbell, who said he raised his hands to signal he wasn't a threat to the police, is one of the most respected leaders in the NFL universe. Those of us who know Campbell and have covered him understand this: if he says something, it's true. Campbell in fact won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2019. The award is considered one of the highest honors a player can get since it recognizes a player’s commitment to philanthropy and community service.
Campbell says what he saw was police abuse. If he says it happened, it happened.
No, we may never fully know what happened between the police and Hill. Even when the police release the results of their investigation, it may not be the total story.
What we do know is bad enough. What we do know is that Hill is lucky to be alive.