NFL star Tyreek Hill banned from team activities after threats of punching 3-year-old son on audio tape surface
Kansas City Chiefs’ wide receiver Tyreek Hill has been locked out of all team activities following the airing of an explosive audio tape where he threatens his fiancé and admits to abusing his 3-year-old son.
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The audio was released to CBS affiliate KCTV, and played over a broadcast with a voice identified as Crystal Espinal, the boy’s mother, accusing Hill of abuse and asking Hill a series of questions about his actions beating their son, ESPN reports.
Once the Chiefs got wind of the audio, Hill was banned from all activities.
“We were deeply disturbed by what we heard [on the recorded conversation],” general manager Brett Veach said. “We were deeply concerned. Now, obviously, we have great concern for [fiancée] Crystal [Espinal]. We are greatly concerned for Tyreek. But our main focus, our main concern, is with the young child.”
“We are going to continue to gather information and we will make the right decision,” Veach said in his statement.
The recording was aired a day after Johnson County District Attorney Stephen M. Howe announced that Hill would not face any charges after police were called to his home last month to investigate abuse claims. It was determined that the child was injured but it could not be determined who committed the act.
According to ESPN, on the 11-minute audio the following could be heard:
“Espinal tells Hill that when asked about an injury to the child’s arm, the boy replied: “Daddy did it.”
Hill denies any role in what happened to the child’s arm, adding: “He says Daddy does a lot of things.”
Espinal then says, “A 3-year-old is not going to lie about what happened to his arm.”
“Daddy did it,” Espinal says, paraphrasing the boy. “He is terrified of you.”
Hill responds, according to the recording: “You need to be terrified of me, too, b*tch.”
Later in the recording, Espinal says, “He kept saying ‘Daddy punches me,’ which you do when he starts crying. What do you do? You make him open up his arms, and you punch him in the chest. Then if he gets in trouble, you get the belt out.””
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On Thursday, the news station plays the audio that starts with Espinal saying, “We were getting into it, and he said, ‘Daddy, you’re mean.’ So we walked up the stairs. You said, ‘Come back down here,’ and he didn’t want to go down there. But I was like, ‘Go down there because it will end up worse for you.’ So he walked down there and then you were getting on his [deleted]. … Then he started crying, and you were like, ‘Shut up, shut up, stop crying. Shut up, shut up, stop crying.'”
Hill replies, “Right.”
Espinal continues: “Then he kept crying because he was scared. He was terrified, and you grabbed on to him or he fell, one of the two.”
Hill says, “I didn’t do nothing. That’s sad, bro. That’s really sad.”
According to according to a report from the Kansas City Star. Espinal made the tape as an “insurance policy” and gave it to a friend who then gave it to the new station.
