TikTok influencer's husband placed sports bet just before 3-year-old son drowned in family pool: police

Fox News

5 days ago

At the time TikTok influencer Emilie Kiser's son drowned at the family's Chandler, Arizona, home in May, her husband Brady Kiser's attention was "divided," according to a police report.
The report revealed that before Brady Kiser found the couple's son Trigg, 3, unresponsive on May 12 in their pool, he had placed a $25 wager on Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum to score more than 40 points in game four of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
"It is clear Brady's attention was divided, and he was not watching at all during the critical times mentioned," according to the report. "During two interviews he did not know what [Trigg] was doing before he fell in and did not see [Trigg] struggling to swim."
Kiser placed the wager at about 5:15 p.m., according to the report. Just before 6:30 p.m., the same time that the game began, Trigg began playing in the backyard. About three minutes later, he fell into the pool, where he remained for seven minutes.
"This tragic incident was the result of being in the backyard unsupervised while playing around the unsecured pool and unable to swim," the report said. "It is clear from the video that he did not go into the water intentionally, rather he tripped and fell in while playing with an inflatable chair."
Emilie Kiser, who has 3.1 million TikTok followers and 1.2 million Instagram followers, was out to dinner with friends at the time of the incident.
Trigg's activities in the yard and drowning were caught on the home's surveillance camera system.
When the police arrived, Trigg was unresponsive. The report details several first responders' encounters with the toddler at the scene, where he was given CPR in an attempt at resuscitation.
The boy was taken to the hospital and died six days later.
According to the report, Kiser told some investigators that Trigg was only unsupervised for three minutes, and told others that Trigg was unsupervised for five minutes.
The Chandler Police Department recommended class 4 felony child abuse charges against Kiser last month, but Maricopa County prosecutors declined to press those charges.
"In order to convict a person of this charge, the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous jury that the person failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and that failure to perceive the risk was a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would show," they wrote.
"Every case submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is evaluated using the same standard: whether there is a 'reasonable likelihood of conviction.' After careful review of the evidence submitted by Chandler PD, it was determined this case does not meet that standard. MCAO's review of the case involved the attorneys assigned to it, along with highly experienced senior attorneys and the County Attorney herself," it continued.
Emilie Kiser has filed a lawsuit against the state to block the release of investigative records and other documentation related to her son's death.