Tyreek Hill’s detention before the Miami Dolphins’ season opener on Sunday has led many to say their piece on who was to blame, especially as bodycam footage from the police officers who were on scene showed the incident.
However, one NBA great is calling out the media for turning Hill’s detention into a story about race.
Charles Barkley made an appearance on Fox Sports 910 in Phoenix, where he took shots at the media.
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"I hate that we’re gonna throw it in the media because you know the guys are gonna quickly go to race, and it bothers me," Barkley explained. "We got so many fools in the media who love to play the race card. I said, ‘Wait a minute, they just did the same thing to Scottie Scheffler.’"
Barkley is referring to what occurred earlier this year before the first round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, where Scheffler, the PGA Tour star who won this year’s Masters Tournament, was arrested.
DOLPHINS' TYREEK HILL NOT BLAMELESS IN INCIDENT WITH POLICE OFFICERS, ESPN'S STEPHEN A SMITH SAYS
Barkley also implied that Hill went about the situation the wrong way.
"The one thing you can’t do as a celebrity, you can’t say, ‘Do you know who I am?’ You say, ‘Yes, sir,’ cooperate 100 percent," he said. "Like I said, I don’t know what happened, but when we let these fools on TV and radio start talking about it, they go straight to, ‘Was it racism?’ I’m like, ‘Wait a minute now, we don’t know that.’ I saw the police report say he was uncooperative.
"But the one thing I hate when we put stuff in the media, and we let guys who race-bait start throwing things out there, like I said, wait a minute, the same thing just happened to Scottie Scheffler, who actually went and got booked! He went down to the big house."
ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith also said his piece on the incident, saying that Hill was not blameless.
"Here’s the problem – we all came on the air seeing the initial footage in complete unadulterated support for Tyreek Hill," Smith said on "First Take."
"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. They pull me over, all my windows are down. My hands are on the steering wheel. That is not what Tyreek Hill did.
"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 hesitate to pull it down. The first thing you say is, ‘Don’t bang on my window like that.’ He asked you for your driver’s license. You hesitated to give him your driver’s license. You said in the postgame conference, ‘Hey, y’all, what if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ What if you aren’t Tyreek Hill? What would have happened to you if somebody wasn’t Tyreek Hill kept the windows rolled up, hesitated to roll it down, didn’t give the license immediately when asked for it, and then hesitated to get out of the car when they told you to get out of the car?
"See, we gotta be responsible. The point I’m trying to make is this – in no way should the officers be excused for what they did… But 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 them your driver’s license, and they tell you to get out of that car, that’s what you gotta do.'"
Hill was cited for careless driving and a seat belt violation during the traffic stop that came just minutes away from the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium, per the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Bodycam shows the intense moment when officers pull Hill from his car as the star receiver took exception to them knocking on his car window. He was handcuffed on the ground in the middle of traffic.
Hill was found in violation of Florida statute 316.1925, stating "any person operating a vehicle upon the streets or highways within the state shall drive the same in a careful and prudent manner, having regard for the width, grade, curves, corners, traffic, and all other attendant circumstances, so as not to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person. Failure to drive in such manner shall constitute careless driving and a violation of this section."
Hill was said to be going at a "visual estimation (of) 60 mph" in a 40 mph zone.
As he was in handcuffs, Hill’s Dolphins temmates Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell tried to intervene, but officers gave them citations as well. They pulled over to make sure Hill was OK, which was seen in the bodycam footage.
"The body-worn camera depicting the interaction between members of the Miami-Dade Police and Mr. Hill is hard to watch, but it’s a reminder that we must always strive to do better," Manuel Morales, chief of police for the Miami Police Department, said in a statement.
"Despite no city of Miami Police involvement, I pray we can move forward and use this incident to forge a stronger partnership between our professional athletes, the community, and the brave men and women who are sworn to protect us all. When we work together, we all win."
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