A father in New Jersey forced his 6-year-old son to run on a treadmill because he thought the child was ‘too fat.’ The video has sparked outrage on social media.
Christopher Gregor, 31, appeared in court to stand trial for allegedly murdering his son Corey Micciolo in 2021, although the images were barely released. The man faces life in prison if convicted.
Child dies on treadmill
During the trial, surveillance video was shown in Superior Court in Ocean City showing Gregor forcing Corey to run on a treadmill after the boy fell several times due to the excessive speed of the exercise machine.
Gregor and his son were seen on March 20, 2021 entering the Atlantic Heights Clubhouse fitness center, where the boy was immediately placed on the treadmill and began running. The footage captured the dad approaching the treadmill to increase the speed and raise the incline of the track.
The sudden changes were too much for the boy’s legs, causing him to fall and slide off the moving track. The father picked up his son and threw him back onto the treadmill, causing the boy’s legs to bend backwards as the father apparently sank his teeth into Corey’s head.
The child climbs back on, but falls again and continues to struggle to stay on the machine, eventually leading the parent to slow down both the speed and the incline.
The boy’s mother, Bre Micciolo, was the first witness to testify, and she was crying as she watched the video. Days before her son’s death, the mother reported the child’s injuries to the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
The initial autopsy revealed that Corey died as a result of blunt force injuries with cardiac and liver contusions with inflammation and sepsis.
Corey’s death was determined to be a homicide in September 2021 after a forensic pathologist found that the six-year-old suffered from ‘chronic abuse’ including blunt impact injuries on his chest and abdomen with a laceration on his heart, left pulmonary contusion, and laceration and contusion of his liver.
