Back in 2024, Danny Torres was one of the Miami-Dade police officers who faced heavy scrutiny after arresting Tyreek Hill in a viral traffic stop. At that time, the NFL star publicly questioned Torres’ actions, and the officer was later investigated. Torres, however, did not utter a word about the incident in public because his job required it. That restraint, though, lasted until July last year, when Torres retired from duty.

So, earlier this year, when the Miami Dolphins released Hill, Torres didn’t hesitate to react. He took to social media, calling the move karma and labeling Hill an “embarrassment” to both the city and the team. Torres even mocked the wide receiver for being unemployed as an NFL free agent. Now, after all those remarks, Torres finally opened up about the incident that caused the bad blood between him and Hill.

“Everybody had the chance to speak and have remarks and have all these officers, and I had to stay quiet,” Danny Torres said in an exclusive interview with 7News this week. “For eight months, I had to not say a word and zip it.”

On September 8, 2024, Tyreek Hill drove his McLaren outside Hard Rock Stadium and got caught up in a traffic stop incident. It was just before the Dolphins’ Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars when officers pulled him over for speeding. Bodycam footage showed an officer asking Hill to roll down his car window, but he didn’t. Danny Torres just recalled the questions raised in his mind while standing beside Hill’s car at that time. 

“Did this person just commit a homicide? A robbery? Why are they not rolling down their window?” Torres said. “Their tints were so dark. All I saw was some movement inside the vehicle.”

As fans made their way toward Hard Rock Stadium, tensions quickly escalated on the streets nearby. Officers, including Torres, ordered Tyreek Hill out of his car, but he didn’t comply right away. The situation intensified from there. Torres pulled Hill out of the vehicle and forced him to the ground before placing him in handcuffs, at one point putting a knee on his back.

The officer later said his actions were driven by a desire to “go home that night” and be with his family.

That day, Torres did go home. But in the aftermath of the viral incident, Torres’ department placed him on desk duty and launched an internal investigation into him. Later, although officials cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing, the 27-year-old chose to retire within eight months. 

That incident even drove Torres out of his town, and he now lives in Punta Gorda. Now, looking back, Torres believes that the situation could have unfolded very differently if Hill had complied with his orders.

“I will personally escort you in,” said Torres. “Don’t worry about it. I got you. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it happened.”

Torres addresses the controversial opinions about Tyreek Hill’s stop

For Tyreek Hill, the legal outcome of the 2024 traffic incident was relatively minor. The NFL star was fined $179 for reckless driving and $129 for a seatbelt violation before being released. But at the same time, the footage of the incident circulated online, and many questioned whether officers used excessive force in restraining Hill. Danny Torres understands how it looked, but he insists that the officers acted out of caution.

“It looks ugly,” Torres told 7News. “We’re there for safety. I don’t know if he’s got a gun. I want to secure his hands as quickly as I can.”

Torres made it clear that his superiors never told him that he had handled the situation incorrectly. Still, the retired officer just admitted that he lost his cool with Hill, but he chalked it up to being “human.”

But in a presser shortly after the incident, Hill questioned whether Torres had the right to “beat the dog outta” him. At the same time, Hill also acknowledged that he could have handled the situation better by complying with the officer’s order.

Yet, his attorney, Julius Collins, called for Torres to be fired over the officer’s “excessive, escalating, and reckless” use of force. But Torres just made it clear that he was only doing his job when he arrested Hill.

“I didn’t target him because he was Mr. Hill or because of the color of his skin,” Torres concluded. “It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the fact that I was doing my job, and I wanted to make sure that I went home to my wife and my family.”

Now, Torres has stepped away from police work and works as a personal trainer, focusing on helping the elderly. Meanwhile, Hill is looking to revive his NFL career. 

Hill delivered back-to-back 1,700-plus-yard NFL seasons in 2022 and 2023, but after that, his production has dipped. Last season, Hill faced another career setback when he suffered a season-ending injury. This year, Hill has not yet signed with any NFL team, but he is looking to bounce back in the 2026 season.