Stephen A. Smith takes issue with Tyreek Hill not obeying officer’s requests

Jesse Cinquini
3 Min Read
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Sports personality Stephen A. Smith seems to think that Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill made the wrong decision during his traffic stop on Sept. 8 when he decided not to roll his windows after the police requested him to do so.

“You pull over,” Smith said. “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 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 hesitated to pull it down. The first thing you say is, ‘Don’t bang on my window like that. Don’t bang on my window like that. Don’t bang on my window like that.'”

Hill was stopped by Miami-Dade police for a traffic violation, and the traffic stop turned physical as the 30-year-old was yanked from his car, forced to the pavement and put in handcuffs.

The 30-year-old wasn’t the only Dolphins player at the scene of the traffic stop, though. Calais Campbell pulled his car over during the incident with Hill and was also put in handcuffs. According to Campbell, he was placed in handcuffs because the police told him he had disobeyed a direct order.

It’s of note that Sunday marked far from Hill’s first legal problem, as he has a record dating back to his time playing college football. He was accused of choking his former girlfriend Crystal Espinal back in December of 2014 and was charged with felony domestic assault and battery by strangulation.

Oklahoma State University revealed that the school had dismissed him from its track and football programs soon after.

Fast forward to more recently, and it became known to the public this year that Hill was facing a lawsuit from an Instagram model named Sophie Law. Law alleged that Hill broke her leg when the two were participating in football drills at the latter’s residence. Specifically, Law sued Hill for battery, assault and negligence, and she asked for an immediate jury trial.

Hill will have his next opportunity to take the field for the Dolphins when the team faces off against a division rival in the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 12.

The Bills have consistently been one of the better teams in the AFC East division of late, and Buffalo clinched the division last season. The team seems primed to clinch the division this season as well.

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Jesse is an aspiring sports journalist that has previously worked as a staff writer at SB Nation’s CelticsBlog and The Knicks Wall.