Tyreek Hill’s Lawyer Denies Abuse Claims

ESPN has obtained a four-page letter recently sent to the NFL by Tyreek Hill‘s attorney, N. Trey Pettlon, in which he denies the abuse claims made by Hill’s fiancée, Crystal Espinal, in a recording that surfaced last week.

The audio recording includes Espinal tells Hill: “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.”

Pettlon says there have been times when Hill has tapped his son on the chest and told him to “man up, buddy” or “don’t cry, my man” but they deny that Hill grabbed his son’s arms as part of physical discipline.

“He (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,” Pettlon writes.

Pettlon also denies that Hill is responsible for or playing any role in breaking their son’s arm and notes that the injury was considered an accident after the boy was examined at a hospital.

As for the claim that their son is “terrified” of him, Pettlon explains that this is the first Hill had heard about this.

Hill also tells Espinal “You need to be terrified of me, too, b—-” on the recording. Pettlon says Hill’s comment was “inexcusable.”

It’s worth mentioning that Pettlon confirmed that the audio is of Hill and Espinal.

According to Pettlon, a text message exchange between Hill and Espinal exists in which Espinal admits to leaving marks on their son while spanking him.

Here’s a text message exchange between Hill and Espinal, per Brooke Pryor:

Tyreek: “Crystal you know I didn’t cause any bruising or harm to [our son.] But for some reason I still may be charged.”

Crystal: “I know you didn’t. I did. I hurt [our son.] I’m the one that did it. I was hurt and mad at you so I blamed you for everything.”

Hill asserts that the second recording and the second report by his fiancee were made during a time when the parties were considering separation and had been discussing a custody battle, per Terez A. Paylor.

Hill is willing to meet with NFL investigators and cooperate with the investigation “to the extent that he can under the law,” per Pettlon.

While a report previously mentioned that the district attorney was going to reopen the case against Hill, Terez A. Paylor reports that a source with knowledge of the investigation has told him that there’s a belief among some close to the ordeal that the child abuse case against Hill has not been actually “reopened.”

The Chiefs have suspended Hill from all team-related activities and one recent report said that the NFL could place Hill on the commissioner’s exempt list as early as this week.

Hill, 25, is a former fifth-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2016. He is entering the final year of his four-year, $2.58 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $1,965,036 for the 2019 season. 

In 2018, Hill appeared in 16 games for the Chiefs and caught 87 passes for 1,479 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns to go along with 151 yards rushing and a touchdown. Hill also totaled 213 punt returns and one touchdown. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 7 receiver out of 117 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Hill as the news is available.