The NFL star says his fame helped him get out of a tense situation. But there is little point in denying he was treated differently due to his race
The body camera footage of NFL star Tyreek Hill’s traffic stop before his team’s season opener was released on Monday. It showed a group of police officers on a power trip, exhibiting unprofessionalism and abuse of authority through their ultra-aggressive and combative behavior. From what I saw, they went out of their way to escalate the situation far beyond what was necessary.
Speaking about the incident on Sunday, the Miami Dolphins receiver posed a pertinent question: “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?” His point being that if he was a Black man who wasn’t famous, would the situation have ended a lot worse? The answer is surely, yes. Nobody is saying Hill did everything correctly on Sunday – he admits on the footage that he was speeding and did not immediately comply with the officers’ instructions when stopped. But if his name was Becky or Brad rather than Tyreek and he had done the same things, would the police have dragged him out his car, handcuffed him and shoved him face down on the hot Miami asphalt?
Etan Thomas played in the NBA from 2000 through 2011. He is a published poet, activist and motivational speaker
