American football star Tyreek Hill has called for the Miami police officer who detained and handcuffed him after a routine traffic stop to be fired.
“Gone, gone, gone. He got to go man,” Hill said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Miami Dolphins wide receiver also expressed remorse for his own actions, saying: “I wish I could go back… and do things a bit differently.”
The altercation on Sunday – which resulted in Hill lying face down while a police officer knelt on his back – occurred just hours before the football star’s first game of the season.
“I could have been better. I could have let down my window in that instance,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, I’m human. I’ve got to follow rules. I’ve got to do what everyone else would do.
“Now, does that give them the right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not.”
Two of Hill’s Miami Dolphins teammates, Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith, also became involved after they stopped along the road as the incident unfolded.
Hill said the officers “treated my teammates with disrespect”.
Campbell claims to have also been put in handcuffs. All were released shortly after the incident.
The traffic stop happened blocks away from the Dolphin’s home field, the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Body camera footage released showed Hill at times being terse with police, telling an officer “don’t knock on my window like that”.
Hill rolled his window down to speak to police, then rolled it up, prompting an officer to tell him to role it back down. Seconds later, the officer said: “As a matter of fact, get out of the car.”
Multiple police officers were on the scene. Hill was pulled out of his car by two officers and placed face down on the pavement. One officer then knelt on his back to restrain him and put him in handcuffs.
Following the incident, one of the officers involved was put on administrative leave.
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V Daniels said that an internal affairs investigation was underway.
Hill was issued citations for careless driving and failing to wear a seatbelt.
South Florida Police Benevolent Association president Steadman Stahl released a statement in support of Miami police.
He said officers were acting according to policy and described Hill as “uncooperative”.
At the Wednesday press conference, Hill called the sequence of events “shell-shocking”.
“It’s really crazy to know that you have officers in this world [who] would do that with body cameras on,” Hill said. “What would they do if they didn’t have body cams?”
His encounter with officers came as the debate about race and policing has been thrust back into the national spolight.
The day after his detainment, jury selection began in the trial of three former Memphis police officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols.
Mr Nichols died days after multiple police officers punched, kicked, tasered and pepper sprayed him after a routine traffic stop.
Mr Nichols’s death sparked protests against police brutality and calls for reform in one of the nation’s largest majority-black cities.
After his game on Sunday, the Dolphins star asked: “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?”