Dad Accused of Forcing Son on Treadmill Before Death Claims Ex 'Coached' Boy to Lie About Abuse

Christopher Gregor is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, as well as first-degree murder in the death of his son, Corey Micciolo. The endangerment charge stems from an incident in March 2021, where Christopher was seen forcing the boy to use a treadmill, which the child was seen falling off of six times in surveillance footage.

Weeks later, after the boy's mother allegedly began to be "concerned" about bruises on his body, the boy was rushed to the hospital by his father, before Corey was intubated, coded twice and died. Per his autopsy, the child died from blunt force trauma.

On April 1, 2021, the day before the boy's death, his mother Breanna took him to a pediatrician, who sent them to a local hospital after seeing the bruises. Prosecutors claimed the boy was discharged later that evening and he appeared to have "nothing wrong" with him. Breanna then returned the boy to his father's custody the next morning.

On Thursday in court, there was a brief hearing on the admissibility of a recording between Gregor and an employee from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency on the morning of April 2, the day the child died.

In the audio -- which was played while the jury wasn't in court and can be heard above -- Gregor complained about Breanna taking the boy to the hospital and going over her visitation time the previous day. He claimed he "had no idea what was going on" all day, before saying, "My son came back this morning and he was saying to me that his mom said that he had to tell the doctor that I had hit him and things of that nature, coaching him."

"The big issue for me is, she put in abuse allegation, which she's done more than a dozen times, and every single time she has said that is not the case. He said it to the worker twice," Gregor insisted.

"I just want it documented that he came home and one of the first two things he said was, 'I don't want to go with my Mom anymore, she's going to try to take me away from you,'" the father insisted. "And he also said, ‘Mom told me to lie and I had to to lie.' That was a huge concern of mine."

He also expressed concern Breanna, who was open about her drug use in court earlier this week, was relapsing -- and was worried caseworkers would take the abuse allegations seriously.

Per Asbury Park Press, prosecutors agreed to redact Gregor's mention of previous abuse allegations before calling the Division of Child Protection and Permanency employee back to the stand in front of the jury later in the trial.

That call was around 10am. At around 4pm that same day, Gregor brought Corey to Southern Ocean County Medical Center. Footage played in court on Thursday showed the pair pull up to the hospital, before Gregor carried the child into the building.

William Doyle, who was a registered nurse in the ER at the time, testified about his interaction with Gregor, as well as Corey's demeanor, when they arrived.

"His arms did not look like they had much movement to them, his legs did not look like they had much movement to them. I knew something was concerning, but I couldn't see everything I needed to see," said Doyle. "I was depending on Chris to convey a sense of urgency or un-wellness; I did not get from him at first. I did not feel I had to immediately rush them [into the ER].

Doyle said Gregor told him the boy appeared "loopy" and "drowsy" earlier in the morning, before he laid the child down to rest. Gregor allegedly said that when the boy continued to show those symptoms and appeared "fatigued and not himself" later in the day, he decided to bring him to the ER.

"There was a moment when Corey tilted his head back and that's when I got what I needed to see to really kick up the speed on this emergency," said Doyle, who recalled the boy's "eyes were in the back of his head" and that he "didn't look well, he was pale," after finally seeing his face.

Doyle went on to describe Gregor's demeanor as "clinical" once they were in the ER, despite Doyle feeling like the boy was in an "all hands on deck type of situation."

Gregor did show emotion elsewhere in the day, however, when Sgt. Matthew Scutti took the stand to talk about the autopsy process. As the officer spoke about Corey being placed into a body bag and the photographs taken ahead of the autopsy, Gregor was seen crying in the courtroom -- at one point grabbing tissues.

The trial is ongoing. The defense has suggested Corey's bruises came from playing football and that the child died of sepsis from pneumonia.