Tyreek Hill Child Abuse Investigation No Longer Active, DA Says
Written by SOURCE on June 9, 2019
Tyreek Hill is no longer the subject of an active criminal investigation, Kansas prosecutors confirmed Friday.
The probe was launched earlier this year after the wide receiver’s three-year-old son sustained suspicious injuries. Hill and the toddler’s mother, Crystal Espinal, were named in a child abuse incident report, but were never formally charged with abuse or neglect.
“It is not an active investigation,” Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe told the Kansas Star via email. “As in any case, if we receive additional evidence we reevaluate.”
Though the investigation is no longer being pursued, Howe reiterated his belief that the child was harmed by someone; his team just couldn’t determine who committed the crime. Shortly after Howe announced he would not press charges against the Chiefs player, KCTV released unsettling audio of Hill and Espinal arguing about their son’s broken arm.
Espinal is heard asking, “Why does he say,’Daddy did it’?”
Hill responds, “I don’t know. He says daddy does a lot of things.”
Following the audio’s release, Kansas prosecutors reopened the investigation and Hill was suspended from the Chiefs. Hill’s attorney denied the child abuse allegations on behalf of his client in a letter addressed to the NFL.
“Hill categorically denies he has ever ‘punched’ his son in the chest or anywhere on his body, or otherwise touched him in the chest in a mean-spirited manner or as a form of discipline,” the letter read. “[…] He is committed to improving his life and becoming the best parent he can be.”
Hill’s future in the NFL, however, remains unclear.
Per ProFootball Talk:
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy tells PFT that the absence of an active criminal investigation “has no impact on our review.” According to McCarthy, the NFL continues to defer to the pending action involving Child Protective Services; the existence or absence of a criminal investigation has no relevance to that.
