Update: Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said in a press conference Thursday night that the organization was “deeply disturbed” by the audio recording. He said Hill will be barred from participating in team activities “for the foreseeable future” and that the organization will “make the right decision” regarding Hill’s future after gathering more information.
Kansas City news station KCTV5 aired an audio recording on Thursday night of what it said was a conversation between Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Crystal Espinal, the mother of Hill’s 3-year-old son, in which the two discussed a March incident at the pair’s home that reportedly resulted in Hill and Espinal’s son being injured.
“You grabbed onto him, or he fell, one of the two” Espinal says.
“I didn’t do nothing,” Hill responds.
“Then why does [he] say, ‘Daddy did it’?” she asks.
KCTV5 said that the 11-minute audio clip was recorded as the couple walked through an airport in Dubai in March. According to the station, the audio was given to one of Espinal’s friends as an “insurance policy,” and was shared with the station by “someone who is concerned about the welfare of the couple’s child.”
In the audio, the couple discuss the investigation into the incident by authorities. Espinal says she “rode for you [Hill] against that detective and the CPS people,” and “you make [the boy] open his arms, and you punch him in the chest,” when the child starts crying. Both Hill and Espinal accuse each other of using a belt to discipline the child. Espinal said that the child is terrified of Hill, with Hill responding, “You need to be terrified of me, too, b----.”
In the audio, Hill denies any wrongdoing. “I didn’t do nothing,” he says.
On Wednesday, the Johnson County district attorney declined to file charges against Hill or Espinal for the March incident, saying that while the DA’s office believes a crime occurred, it could not determine who committed it. The child was recently removed from Hill and Espinal’s custody.
After the DA’s office declined to press charges, Hill released a statement through his attorneys in which he said, “My son’s health and happiness is my number one priority. I want to thank the Kansas City Chiefs, my attorneys, my agent and my union for supporting me through this.”
The NFL has sought police records on the investigation, according to The Kansas City Star, but has taken no disciplinary action against the wide receiver yet. In 2015, Hill pleaded guilty to domestic abuse and received three years of probation stemming from a 2014 incident in which he punched and choked Espinal, who was then pregnant.
