Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s shocking arrest and harassment in September resulted in no jail time, though the NFL player did receive two tickets over the incident, both of which were recently thrown out after a court hearing.
Hill was arrested on September 8 after what should have been a routine traffic stop. Police were sitting right outside of Hard Rock Stadium when they stopped Hill in his McLaren claiming that he was speeding; Hill was on his way to play in that day’s game. Body camera footage from the incident shows that one of the officers appears to be on power trip, something legal experts back up, after they didn’t like him rolling his window up after he was done talking to them. Things escalated to the point where they dragged Hill out the car and placed him face down on the sidewalk. At no time did Hill resist arrest.
Hill was eventually issued citations for careless driving and failure to wear a seat belt and was released just in time to play in the game. The Miami-Dade police department launched an internal investigation and placed one of the officers on administrative leave, but never released the results of the investigation.
Now two months after the incident, Miami’s ABC 10 reports that a court has thrown out the citations after the officers involved failed to show up in court. Hill’s lawyers released a statement to ESPN after the dismissal, calling out the officers for being bold enough to ticket Hill, but not being bold enough to show up in court.
“As anticipated, the traffic citations against Tyreek Hill were dismissed. Police officers should not issue citations unless they are willing to testify in court, under oath, with respect to same,” they said in the statement. “Officer Torres and Batista’s absence from court today evidences their knowledge of wrongdoing. These officers should be disciplined for their failure to appear. Mr. Hill was entitled to have his day in court and the officers failed to appear.
It is our belief that Officer Torres and Officer Batista failed to appear in court so that they could not be questioned under oath.”
In a defiant tweet on X, Hill posted “Where all the internet cops now” in response to those online who came for him when he got arrested.