STEPHEN A. Smith has responded after a video circulated of Tyreek Hill face down on the ground in handcuffs.
The Miami Dolphins star, 30, was arrested on the way to his team’s NFL season opener.
Seeing footage, Smith, 56, compared the incident to when golfer Scottie Scheffler was detained by cops ahead of the PGA Championship in May.
“Look for yourself. This is b.s.” Smith wrote on X. “Totally unnecessary.
“And btw…., I know the Scottie Scheffler incident was in Georgia — not Florida — and he was arrested, detained, booked.
“I also know we don’t know all the details, blah….blah…..blah!
“But he wasn’t faced down on the ground in cuffs? Then forcibly sat down again by officers a second time. Nah!
“This story isn’t going away — and it doesn’t need to.”
ESPN initially reported that Hill was arrested for a driving violation.
Despite his arrest, the wide receiver subsequently played in his team’s matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium.
Reporter Jeff Darlington had more details on the incident while appearing on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown.
“Tyreek Hill was pulled over for speeding and then got in a verbal spat with police,” he said.
“He was handcuffed and later released.
“He has been cited for reckless driving after ‘an altercation with police in a verbal form.'”
Hill’s agent Drew Rosenhaus then shed some further light on the situation during an appearance on ESPN.
“It’s a heartbreaking situation,” he said. “Obviously I love Tyreek and hated to see him in that situation.
‘MIND-BOGGLING’
“Number one, he’s OK. Number two, he’s going to play today. Number three, apparently he got a ticket for a moving violation entering the stadium.
“How things escalated into the situation where he was in handcuffs and held on the ground is mind-boggling.
“I’m deeply concerned by that. I’m very troubled.
“We will be investigating this and looking out for Tyreek, but I’m not going to make any allegations at this time.
“The most important thing is Tyreek is OK physically, mentally he was very distraught about what happened.
“This is crazy, I’ve never seen anything like this.
“The police stopped him, took him out of the car and at that point got rough with him.”
The Dolphins subsequently released a short statement regarding the matter.
“This morning, WR Tyreek Hill was pulled over for a traffic incident about one block from the stadium and briefly detained by police,” it began.
“He has since been released. Several teammates saw the incident and stopped to offer support.
“Tyreek and all other players involved have safely arrived to the stadium and will be available for today’s game.”