ESPN's Michael Wilbon Says Tyreek Hill Incident Happened Because Hill Was 'Driving While Black'

We can officially add ESPN personality Michael Wilbon to the list of media members who blame racism for Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill being detained by Miami-Dade police.

Even after Charles Barkley complained that too many in the media were quick to play the race card in the Hill incident, Wilbon decided to jump on the bandwagon. 

On Tuesday's Pardon The Interruption, Wilbon said that he doesn't "have any questions" on the matter because he's "driven while black long enough" to know that's why police acted the way they did toward the Miami star. 

"The police acted with excessive force," Wilbon said. "If Tyreek Hill rolls down his window, he might have diminished the chances of that happening."

He continued: "I say might because when you're ‘driving while black’… you don't have to provoke police… to get dragged out of your car." 

Look, I've made my thoughts on the incident pretty clear. I agree with Wilbon that the police used excessive force. 

To me, the officer who yanked Hill out of the car did not need to do that, and they didn't need to handcuff him or hit the back of his knee to force him to sit down. 

That being said, the assumption when a black person is involved with the police always seems to be that race played the biggest role in the situation. 

Did it play a role? I have no idea. I know that Hill is black, and the police officers were Hispanic. Are they racists? Again, I have no idea.

From personal experience, I know that police officers generally don't like having their authority questioned, regardless of the person's race. 

Add ESPN personality Michael Wilbon to the list of media members who blame racism for Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill being detained by Miami-Dade police.

(USA Today Network/Imagn Images)

Hill certainly disrespected the officers – and did so from his first interaction after being pulled over for speeding – and Wilbon admitted that Hill could have helped mitigate the circumstances by not acting in the manner that he did. 

But, again, did the police use excessive force because Hill was black or because he treated them like they were bothering him and wasting his time? 

For me, the answer is obviously the latter. Unfortunately, the majority of the media has decided that the former is true in almost all cases, regardless of the circumstances. 

Michael Wilbon is apparently in that camp, as well.