A New Jersey father, charged with murdering his 6-year-old son after forcing him into abusive treadmill workouts, blamed the child’s mother just two days after his death, bodycam footage reveals.
Christopher Gregor, 31, was stopped by Alcoa, Tennessee police on April 4, 2021, for speeding in a construction zone. His response when questioned about his route was recorded on bodycam.
“If he (Corey Micciolo) didn’t have a drug addict mother, then he’d still be alive. That’s been going through my head this whole drive. She’s a special kind of dirtbag,” Gregor said, referring to Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo.
Autopsy reports show that Corey Micciolo died from blunt force trauma and lacerations to his heart and liver. In March 2021, Gregor forced his son to run on a treadmill, as captured on surveillance video, showing Gregor increasing the treadmill’s speed repeatedly, causing Corey to fall face-first about six times.
Breanna Micciolo stated she reported suspected abuse over 100 times in 18 months, but no action was taken before Corey’s death.
Did CPS overlook abuse before death?
A former Child Protective Services caseworker suggests implicit bias and staffing issues may have played a role in Corey Micciolo’s death.
Jessica Pryce, author of “Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services,” told Truth Voices’s “CUOMO” that CPS needs to take responsibility for what occurred in this case.
“When I was in the field, there was this line between the family court and CPS … But I want CPS to realize that we can’t do child safety alone … We’ve got to be the leader because we’re the experts in (keeping) kids safe.”
Host Chris Cuomo questioned Pryce on how over 100 reports from the mother were ignored without any home visit. Pryce pointed to high caseworker turnover, which might have caused reports to be overlooked.
Pryce also highlighted that implicit bias against marginalized parents, such as addicts, being perceived as less credible could be a factor.
“Unfortunately, implicit bias plays a big role in this,” Pryce said. “Sometimes, we have this level of bias toward parents to say, ‘Oh, she’s not credible,’ and we’re going to …keep the child with the dad.”
New Jersey’s child welfare agency has declined requests for an interview about the case. Pryce insisted the agency should be transparent about any lapses that contributed to this tragedy.
Damita Menezes contributed to this report.
