A 27-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department has been identified as the cop who was placed on administrative duties in connection with the detainment of Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Sunday ahead of their season opener at Hard Rock Stadium.
Danny Torres was named by the MDPD, which said that he “remains in administrative duties,” according to a statement provided to CBS News Miami.
“As the Internal Affairs investigation is still ongoing. We will provide further information once it becomes available pending the outcome of the investigation,” the statement read.
Attorneys for the officer released statements on his behalf on Monday — not identifying him at the time — and called for his “immediate reinstatement” while calling the decision to put him on administrative duties “premature.”
The officer is being represented by attorneys Ignacio Alvarez of ALGO Law Firm and Israel Reyes of The Reyes Law Firm.
“We urge all parties to refrain from making public statements that may misrepresent our client’s actions and mislead the public about Mr. Hill’s detainment,” Alvarez said in a statement to ESPN.
Drew Rosenhaus, Hill’s agent, called for the officers involved in the incident to be fired during an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show” on Tuesday.
Hill, 30, was cited for careless driving, which carries a $179 fine, and for a seatbelt violation, which comes with a $129 fine.
Body cam footage of the incident was released Monday night, showing the chaotic scene that developed as officers attempted to make contact with Hill after pulling him over for speeding. Hill was cited for going and estimated 60 mph in a 40 mph zone, according to the police report posted by NFL Network.
The scene eventually led to an officer forcefully pulling the wideout from his vehicle and putting him on the ground.
Former Baltimore City Police Department Commissioner and Maryland State Police Department Officer Neill Franklin said during an appearance on CNN that the officers escalated the incident.
“This is appalling, and this is one of the main problems we have in policing today – that police officers are not following their training,” he said during the interview, according to Newsweek. “They’re not using de-escalation techniques that they’re trained in, and in this particular case, as I said before, they actually escalated the situation.”
Andrew J. Scott, the former Boca Raton Police Chief, told Newsweek that he didn’t “think any of the officers did anything wrong” and placed the blame on Hill.
“Had Mr. Hill complied with the officer’s request initially and kept his window down, and listened to what the officer said, he would have been on his way in a matter of 10 minutes, gotten his citations, and moved on. That did not happen,” he said.
