NFL All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill's wife recounted details of assault and verbal abuse during testimony on the first day of a civil assault and battery trial against him in Florida. Some assaults occurred while she was pregnant with their daughter, Lakeeta Vaccaro testified Tuesday. She is suing Hill for punitive and compensatory damages.
Her testimony, as part of the couple's divorce proceedings, came a day after Hill's agent told ESPN's Adam Schefter that his client would potentially be signing a contract with a new team soon. NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN on Tuesday that Vaccaro's allegations against Hill remain "under review of the personal conduct policy."
Vaccaro's allegations followed a previous case in 2014 in which another woman accused Hill of domestic violence. Hill pleaded guilty and completed three years of court-ordered probation.
Vaccaro, the sister of former NFL safety Kenny Vaccaro, broke into tears on two occasions during more than three hours of testimony and cross-examination.
The abuse started on Jan. 10, 2024, Lakeeta Vaccaro said, when she and Hill began arguing over a postnuptial agreement he pressured her to sign. She did not sign it, saying she didn't agree with certain stipulations.
Vaccaro said that "probably the worst of all these times" was a July 12, 2024, visit to Bristol, Connecticut, and ESPN headquarters. She alleged Hill attacked her while she was pregnant, attempting to punch her in the stomach following an argument. Vaccaro testified she deflected the punch with her hands. "If I didn't block it," Vaccaro said, "it would just hit me."
She also alleged Hill pulled her hair, broke her sunglasses and cursed her at a Bristol hotel.
Video taken by ESPN of the visit shows Vaccaro standing off to the side when Hill was being interviewed and smiling only briefly while standing next to him posing for a group photo. They did not appear to touch during the photo and appeared to walk in opposite directions after it.
The Jan. 10 argument about the postnuptial agreement angered Hill, Vaccaro testified, and he threatened divorce, tried to take her wedding ring from her finger, grabbed a necklace off Vaccaro's neck, put his hands around her neck, grabbed and twisted her breasts and wrestled her to the bed. She took a photo of markings on her chest and said the incident "terrified" her. Vaccaro texted her mother the next day, describing aspects of the fight. The texts were among multiple exhibits entered into evidence to help corroborate her account.
In cross-examination, Hill's attorneys asked her why she hadn't taken more photos. Vaccaro said she took the picture only because the wound "was right in my face."
During a trip to Orlando, Florida, in January 2024, when she traveled with Hill to a 7-on-7 football tournament, she said Hill told her that he was going to cheat on her "that night" and wanted a divorce. He didn't return to the hotel until the next morning, according to her testimony, and when he saw her packing her things to leave, he threw her clothes out of the suitcase, broke her computer, again tried to take her wedding ring off and twisted one of her breasts.
Vaccaro said she called police. They interviewed her, but she declined to press charges. In cross-examination, she said police sealed the records. Hill's attorney said the records "found no signs of abuse." According to text messages shown in court, Hill later texted Vaccaro that he no longer wanted a divorce.
On Jan. 30, 2024, Hill allegedly again got angry about the postnuptial agreement as they prepared to travel to the Pro Bowl. Vaccaro said he told her that he wanted a divorce and wanted to kick her out of the house. She alleged that he first threw out her luggage and then physically threw her out of the house. She also said Hill "ended up throwing or shoving" an unlit cigar butt in her mouth.
Police were called again. In a report from the incident, Hill told officers he "flicked" a cigar toward her and said the cigar never struck her." Other than a pimple Vaccaro already had, officers on the scene wrote they "observed no other visible marks or redness" on Vaccaro and could not find the cigar.
After that incident, Vaccaro told Hill in text messages shown in court that she was "done" and that "it's over. Stop calling me." Hill responded he would go to therapy, and she eventually gave him another chance. The couple began going to marriage counseling.
On May 1, 2024, Vaccaro alleged that Hill got angry at her while driving home from another event, cursed at her "and eventually shoved me into the door and told me to get out." She said he threw her shoes out of the car -- she had taken them off because she was pregnant -- and she eventually ordered a Lyft to take her home.
On May 15, 2024, during an argument in a car while they were on the phone with Vaccaro's mother, Hill allegedly threatened to hurt Vaccaro "or that he's gonna have friends who are gonna hurt me."
On Nov. 24, 2024, Vaccaro alleged Hill became angry with her and that she "became the punching bag of his annoyance that day" because she didn't have his pregame outfit ready. He yelled at her and then spit in her face. "He just hawked it up and spit straight into my mouth," Vaccaro testified. Nine months pregnant, she said she felt "violated," and that Hill's family members told him he needed to stop. Vaccaro said she went into labor the next day.
On April 7, 2025, during another argument at the couple's Miami condominium, she alleged he got mad at her, punched her computer, threw it to the ground, tried grabbing her and began cursing her. Her mother was present at the time, and the argument spread to the bedroom of the couple's sleeping infant daughter. "Nanny cam" video and audio recorded the argument, which was introduced to corroborate Vaccaro's description.
A police report from the incident stated that the argument "never became physical" and that she was in the process of filing for divorce.
"I've been in this cycle with him for so long, being pregnant and realizing, what am I going to do? How am I going to get myself out of this," Vaccaro testified Tuesday. "[The abuse] got worse and worse and worse. And it got to a point where, now I'm a new mom. I have to think of her. I have to think about what I'm putting myself through."
Hill's attorneys cross-examined Vaccaro for an hour, mostly focusing on inconsistencies with the timeline of events in January 2024, the couple's engagement and 2023 wedding, and her jobs. Vaccaro's cross-examination will continue Wednesday morning.
Trial coverage by Law&Crime Trials appeared online via YouTube.