NFL free agent wide receiver Tyreek Hill spent his second day on the stand of his divorce battery trial admitting to verbally abusing his wife Lakeeta Vaccaro but insisting he had not harmed her physically.
And through the former player’s testimony on Friday, the attorneys for Vaccaro have not yet produced incontrovertible evidence of physical violence by Hill against their client.
Instead, what we saw on Friday was Hill on the stand trying to erase a significant problem he created for himself the day before, while Vaccaro’s attorneys pressed the issue.
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Hill on Friday morning changed his testimony from Thursday in which he admitted to pushing Vaccaro, which caused a hole in the wall of their Sunny Isle condominium.
“I told her don’t you ever touch me again in your life. I pushed her against the wall. And I tried to force her to get off me,” Hill testified on Thursday. “I created a hole in the wall, trying to force her to get off me that night.”
His testimony on Friday changed to a door caused the hole.
“The door, the main door,” Hill told his attorney. “I was trying to evade [Vaccaro], but I’m not trying to harm her or push her against the wall or, like, do anything crazy. As I was trying to evade, I put a hole in the wall with the door.”
Hill’s attorneys also made sure Hill explicitly denied ever hurting his wife’s breasts, which Vaccaro alleged on the stand earlier in the trial.
But Vaccaro’s attorneys, on cross-examination, then tried to muddy up Hill further.
The plaintiff attorneys got Hill to admit he spoke in an explicitly insulting manner about his wife to her and some of his friends.
“The language, I’m gonna take that all on this end, I’m not proud of that,” Hill testified. “I am ashamed. I don’t even go back home because my marriage failed … The language was terrible. Was terrible. I wish I could have been better in every single moment, but I’m not perfect.
“The only thing I can do is learn from it and move forward and never talk to my co-parent like that again.”
Vaccaro’s attorneys pointed to multiple instances in which Hill’s testimony Thursday contradicted statements he made during his deposition.
They impeached Hill on his testimony that Vaccaro may have had something to do with a house fire at the couple’s Southwest Ranches home in Broward County when, in fact, the cause was determined to be a child playing with a lighter.
They attempted to impeach Hill’s contention on the stand Thursday that Vaccaro was “stealing” money from the family account.
They impeached Hill on his suggestion on the stand Thursday that Vaccaro had something to do with him performing worse after the marriage than before, making the point it was Tua Tagovailoa throwing the passes and coach Mike McDaniel calling the plays.
“She wasn’t calling the plays on the field, but at home she was calling the plays” Hill said, sticking by his guns. “If you got a real good support system at home, that’s what’s important.”
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Hill did, however, admit that saying Vaccaro played a role in his diminished performance was his opinion.
“I’m not sitting here blaming wifey for that, bro,” Hill said. “I’m not.”
Attorneys then impeached Hill’s testimony blaming Vaccaro for Hill’s mom becoming homeless. In fact, Hill moved his grandmother, which he refers to as his mom, into a hotel.
Vaccaro’s attorneys used video from a nanny camera inside the house to try to prove Hill emotionally hurt his wife — and Hill acknowledged that he did.
“In that moment, yes,” Hill agreed. “In that moment.”
Did Hill want to break Vaccaro mentally, Vaccaro’s attorney asked?
“That’s not what I wanted to do, bro,” Hill replied.
But Hill admitted he verbally abused his wife.
“When you say verbally, you mean with words, right? Hill asked. “Oh, yes sir.”
The trial in Miami-Dade County court is ongoing and reconvenes on Monday.
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