Tyreek Hill seemingly laughed off a controversial Halloween costume recreating his Week 1 arrest in Miami.
On Thursday, a trio of kids went viral after two dressed up as police officers while handcuffing the third draped in a Hill Dolphins jersey and football gear.
While users on social media slammed the picture of ridiculing the controversial traffic stop, the star wide receiver responded lightly to the group costume.
Reposting the picture on X, Hill wrote ‘A+ with the mullet,’ with a smiling emoji – pointing out the kid wearing his jersey’s hairstyle.
The inspiration for the picture took place outside Hard Rock Stadium ahead of Miami’s season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
During a traffic stop, the wide receiver was pulled out of his car and pinned to the ground while handcuffed.
While he was released and scored a touchdown in their 20-17 win, the excessive force used by officers during his detention drew much criticism from fans and media.
‘This story with the police involving @cheetah ain’t going away damnit,’ wrote Stephen A. Smith before drawing comparisons to Scottie Scheffler’s arrest in May. ‘Traffic violation? Fine. But WTH was he face down in cuffs, stood up, then the other officer runs over behind him and forces him to the ground again??? Hell No! Excessive! Wrong! Again, this ain’t going away.’
‘Look for yourself,’ Smith added. ‘This is b.s. Totally unnecessary. And btw…., I know the Scottie Scheffler incident was in Georgia — not Florida — and he was arrested, detained, booked.’
Cheetah later addressed the incident in a one-on-one interview with Taylor Rooks. He then admitted not having the best approach towards the situation – which led to the unnecessary roughness.
However, he also revealed that one of the cops was trying to get a reaction from him during his arrest.
‘I tried to meet in the middle and say ‘Here’s my ID,’ and Imma leave my window barely deal. It’s crazy to think about it now. Does that give them the right to pull me out of my car? No. It doesn’t give them the right to put their hands on me, antagonize me.
‘There was a lot of that going on… whenever I was handcuffed behind my back, the officer was pinching me on my neck. Like, trying to get me to do something to him.’
‘I just feel like this doesn’t represent the name on the back of my jersey the right way,’ Hill added. ‘The flip side of it is it’s great because I get a chance to at least try to bring awareness to [what] this entire county’s been trying to fix for the past decade.’
‘You got pros then you got cons in every situation, it’s all about what you’re doing. You learn from your situation, you hold yourself accountable. Like, how can you get better.’
‘Let’s not get mad, let’s learn,’ Hill tells his family. ‘Cause the more we get mad, I feel like that’s moving us backwards. It’s all about accountability on both sides.’
After their opening-day win, the Dolphins have struggled and are 2-5, sitting third in the AFC East.
