HEADLINE

Report: Prosecutors not investigating Chiefs’ Hill

Field Level Media

June 07, 2019 at 6:51 pm.

Prosecutors in suburban Kansas City are not looking into Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill on suspicion of child abuse but the Kansas Department for Children and Families is continuing to investigate Hill.

In the meantime, his status with the team remains uncertain.

The Kansas City Star reported Friday that Steve Howe, the Johnson County district attorney, said a criminal investigation is inactive but added, “As in any case, if we receive additional evidence we reevaluate.”

In April, Howe’s office declined to press charges against Hill or his fiancée, Crystal Espinal, after an incident in which their young son suffered a broken arm. He said he believed someone had hurt the child but couldn’t prove it.

Howe told The Star that those remarks “still hold true.”

Two days after Howe’s April news conference, an audiotape emerged in which Espinal accuses Hill of breaking the boy’s arm, and he threatens her in return. The Chiefs banned Hill, 25, from participating in team activities but did not cut ties with him. At the time, head coach Andy Reid said the investigation had been reopened.

“It’s my understanding the criminal investigation has been closed for quite some time now and obviously there’s been some misinformation about that, but it is closed,” Hill’s attorney, Trey Pettlon, told The Star.

NFL officials have launched an investigation into Hill, but they have not yet interviewed him. League spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Star that the league is waiting for the Department for Children and Families to give its permission.

Through their lawyer, Hill and Espinal have denied allegations of child abuse.

Hill has 223 catches for 3,255 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first three seasons with the Chiefs.

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