Emilie Kiser, a TikTok family influencer who tragically lost her 3-year-old son in a drowning incident, has won a legal case which she filed to protect records of her son’s death from the public.
Kiser lost her son in an incident at home
The mother, whose online platform on TikTok has over four million followers, lost her 3-year-old son, Trigg, after he fell into a family pool at their Arizona home.
Kiser has since filed and won a lawsuit to protect information around Trigg’s death following a surge of public requests to access it.
Paramedics tried to save him
When the incident happened on May 12, paramedics performed CPR on the boy, and then took him to Chandler Regional Hospital.
He was later transferred to Phoenix Children’s Hospital but tragically passed away on May 18.
Authorities recommended the father face charges
At the time of the incident, authorities suggested that Kiser’s husband Brady, who is also the boy’s father, face child abuse charges, but police dropped it around two weeks ago.
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The father had admitted to having lost sight of their son for up to five minutes while the couple tended to their newborn.
The report explained the boy’s fall
A Chandler Police Department report said, “It is clear from the video that he did not go into the water intentionally, rather, he tripped and fell in while playing with an inflatable chair.”
They also said he was in ‘the backyard unsupervised for more than nine minutes’, and that he was in the water for around seven minutes.
Kiser filed a lawsuit against the county public offices
The mother filed a lawsuit on May 27 against Maricopa County public offices, requesting that records regarding her son and his death remain protected.
This comes after over 100 public record requests were made with the city of Chandler and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to The Independent.
The suit called it an invasion of privacy
These requests were labeled a ‘profound invasion of privacy’ by Kiser’s suit, which added that such invasion would cause ‘irreparable harm’ to Kiser’s family.
“Emilie and her family desperately want to grieve in private, but sadly, the public will not let them. Trigg’s death has become a media frenzy,” the lawsuit read.
The documents were not reviewed by Kiser
Documents requested, and which Kiser has filed to protect, include surveillance footage of the incident, body camera footage, autopsy reports, and the police report.
Kiser herself has not reviewed these documents nor did she want to, per NBC News.
She’s won the lawsuit
The mother has won the lawsuit, with the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County ruling that she can redact two pages from a Chandler Police Department report.
This will allow her to keep some privacy surrounding details about her son and his death.
Kiser’s lawyer relayed how she’s feeling
Kiser’s lawyer, Shannon Clark, said the mother is ‘grateful to Judge Whitten for carefully balancing the important interests at stake and allowing a narrow but meaningful redaction to the Chandler police report, removing two pages that detail the graphic final moments of Trigg’s life.’
Kiser has not posted on TikTok since May 12.
