Law&Crime Sidebar - Influencer Dad was Betting on Basketball Game Before Son Drowned in Pool: Police Report

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

A police report from Chandler PD reveals new details about the drowning death of three-year-old Trigg Kiser in Arizona earlier this year. Documentation shows that Brady Kiser, husband of social media influencer Emilie Kiser, gave conflicting statements to police in interviews. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber dug into the 150+ page report and discussed it with criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Kurt Altman.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Newly released police records are raising fresh questions about the drowning death of three-year-old Trig Kaiser, including what his father, Brady Kaiser, was doing or maybe doing in the crucial moments before this ultimate tragedy. And investigators, they pointed to what they say are conflicting statements, discrepancies, and surveillance footage, and pull safety lapses in recommending criminal charges, but prosecutors disagreed, ultimately declined to file them. We're going to be speaking with an Arizona criminal defense attorney

to break it all down, but also we are going through the details in this new reporting to understand what may have happened. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, we have this newly released information, and it is shedding further light on just the absolute tragic drowning of influencer Emily Kaiser's three-year-old son, Trigg, Trig Kaiser.

And this includes crucial details about what her husband Brady Kaiser was allegedly doing at the time of the incident. Now, before we dive into the new findings, I've got to give you a brief recap for anyone who's not fully caught up or briefed about this. So we go back to May 12th. Three-year-old Trigg-Kaiser was found unresponsive in the backyard pool of his family's Chandler, Arizona home. According to his father, Brady, he had been. caring for both Trigg and the couple's newborn son while Emily was out with friends. Now, Brady told police he was briefly distracted while feeding the baby, just three to five minutes he claimed, and during which time, Trigg, who had been playing near the pool, went missing.

Brady said he found Trigg floating in the pool, unresponsive, and immediately jumped in to pull him out before calling 911. Trigg was hospitalized and ultimately died six days later. It's horrible. After a two-month investigation, Chandler Police Department announced on July 15th that they were recommending criminal charges against the father here, Brady Kaiser, specifically one count of child abuse, a class four felony under Arizona law. And the statute referenced ARS 13-3623 and applies when someone acts with criminal negligence that leads to a child being harmed or placed in danger of serious injury or death. However, when the case was forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, prosecutors ultimately decided not to pursue charges, citing insufficient evidence to secure a conviction. Now, during the investigation, Emily Kaiser filed legal motions to protect her family's privacy, including efforts to redact portions of the police report before its public release.

Now, a court ultimately ruled in her favor, allowing the removal of two pages from the report, we covered the full legal battle in a previous sidebar episode. you can definitely go check it out right now for more context but now with the release of a 55 page police report on august 8th we are learning new potentially critical details that may raise serious questions and we obtained and read through the entire police report and we're going to give you and break down the most significant revelations according to authorities so according to one of the first officers on scene officer tyler shank brady kaiser told him he had last seen seen Shreg approximately five minutes before the child was found in the pool. Police, they were dispatched to the Kaiser residents at around 6.40 p.m. on May 12th, 2025, and per the police report,

it reads, the mail on scene, this is Brady Kaiser, who led officers inside was extremely distraught. The male subject would go and pick up an infant baby while I continued to give compressions to the unconscious toddler. Officers attempted to garner further information about the incident from the mail. Officers were able to receive that the male subject had last seen the top of the top. approximately five minutes before the incident. That same five-minute gap, by the way, was later relayed by another responding officer, Angel Halimo, who also documented Brady's timeline in the official report. His finding reads, quote, the RP, meaning reporting person or reporting party, then told me his wife had just gone out with friends. R.P. also stated there

was a five-minute time gap that he did not know where his son was, to which I related this information to Chandler Dispatch to advise the Chandler Fire Department. Shortly after, The RP found his son in the pool and saw that his son was unconscious. The RP got his son out of the pool and contacted emergency services. Now you have a third officer. This is Nathan Duncan, who began his investigation at approximately 7.45 p.m. From the report, he documented concerns about one specific access point to the backyard, the breakfast nook door. Per the police report, this door was an outward opening glass door.

The handle was a lever-style handle that measured four. 41 inches to 42 inches from the floor. The deadbolt measured 39 inches from the floor. This door was also equipped with an alarm. The alarm did not sound when the door opened. This door did not shut properly and did not lock. The door was not self-closing. It appeared to be malfunctioning at the time. Now, as we talk about this, always remember the knowledge component. Was there a knowledge of a safety risk? And if there was, that is important when we do a legal analysis, just something to keep in mind. Now, I will tell you it remains unclear whether this was the door that Trigg used to actually access the backyard, but arguably, its compromised

condition does raise important questions about how the toddler was able to get outside seemingly undetected. As you know, we've been following the story since it broke from the very beginning. We're trying to clear up any misinformation that there is about this case. We want to bring it to you. We want to do a deep dive on it. And one of the reasons that we can do that is because of the amazing support that we get from our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan. This is America's largest injury law firm. This is a firm with over 1,000 attorneys. You know why? Because they win a lot. They have recovered over $25 billion for more than 500,000 clients. In the past few months, a client in Florida received $12 million after the insurance company offered just $350,000. Pennsylvania,

client was awarded $26 million. That is, 40 times the insurer's $650,000 offer. Another client in Pennsylvania. Received $29 million after being offered only $500,000. And even if you think your case isn't worth millions of dollars, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan and Morgan makes it so simple. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar by clicking the link below or scanning the QR code on screen. Officer Shank also made some observations regarding the depth of this pool and there is even a diagram included that shows the dimensions. And per the report, quote, the deepest portion of the pool was approximately 102 inches deep north end. There was a diving board

at the deepest end of the pool. The shallow portion of the pool was located on the south end and was 38 inches deep. The middle area of the pool was 77 inches deep. On the east end of the pool was a large lounge area, sometimes referred to as a Baja shelf. The depth of the water in this area was was 17 inches deep. So, you know, those levels very important when you're thinking about a small child. There were two steps leading on to the shelf, southeast end and northeast end. The depth of the steps was five and a half inches deep. Now, as we've mentioned previously, Brady Kaiser told police that the pool typically had a safety cover, but on the day of this tragedy, that cover was not in place. Officer Tyler Shank made note of the unused pool covering in the report too. Here's what

it says. On the southwest portion of the pool, I observed large netting and a fabric top rolled up onto PVC carriers. These were covers for the pool that were not in use at the time. It was later learned that the covers were in place most of the time, but were recently removed so the family could enjoy the pool. They were never replaced. No pool gate or barrier was in place at the time. As indicated above, safety netting identified as catch a kid was present, but not in use. And as for why this cover was not on, this is what Brady apparently told police. Quote, Brady described a pool cover the family has, but he didn't put it on because the pool service company was coming at noon on Tuesday, so he was planning on putting it on after the service. This claim about the pool service was inadvertently verified on Tuesday, May 13th, when we the officers were at the residence.

The pool service was there servicing the pool. So there you go, corroboration for what he's saying. Now, Detective Michael Reitz conducted a recorded interview with Brady Kaiser, which the report indicates was captured on body-worn camera. And during this interview, Brady described what he recalled happening after Emily left the house that evening. Quote, after Emily left, Brady made Trigg dinner as he fed child the bottle. Trigg finished his dinner and went into the backyard. Brady was sitting on a back chair that pointed out to the backyard out through the back windows because while he was holding their infant child, he wanted to be.

able to see Trigg. Trigg was seen in the grass area of the backyard near a blowup slide slash playhouse, and Brady saw him walk from that area in the grass up on the elevated portion where the hot tub was at. That was where he had seen him last. After seeing Trig apparently near the hot tub, Brady, quote, thought that he went and got a drink. He then went back to, quote, see where Trigg was at. Brady then went outside and saw Trigg in the water. He laid their child on the ground, took his shirt off and dove in the pool. After pulling Trigg from the pool, Brady carried him inside and laid him on the ground. There he started CPR, including breathing into the mouth. And Brady emphasized multiple times that he believed Trigg had only been out of sight briefly, saying, I didn't

have a clock, obviously. I don't know the exact time, but it was moments. It wasn't that he had been out of sight for long. I asked Brady about the five-minute statement that he made to patrol on scene. He said that he's told different people three minutes or five minutes, but wasn't sure the exact time and said it wasn't very long. Now we'll talk about this later when we bring in Kurt Altman, Arizona Criminal Defense Attorney, that this could be chalked off to just an incredibly traumatic moment and not giving misinformation. But I do want you to pay attention to Brady's mention of the grass area

because this detail is going to come up again later after investigators reviewed security footage. So his claim about sitting in a, quote, back chair with a view of the backyard, that is also questioned in a later interview. Now, both Brady and Emily Kaiser, they were interviewed by the... the Arizona Department of Child Safety following what happened here. And during this interview, Brady described what happened after dinner that evening. According to the police report, he was feeding their infant son a bottle when Trigg got up from the couch, walked out the sliding glass door. Brady acknowledged seeing Trigg head into the backyard and said he had told him

to, quote, stay close. He recalled Trigg walked over and was playing in the grass off to the side of the yard. And then I saw him walk up onto, it's kind of like an elevated platform. I had seen him there, playing around up there, and at that point, I have eyes in him. Brady said he continued feeding the baby and believed Trig had only been out of his sight briefly, quote, I was in the middle of doing that while watching Trig, and after a moment of being like, you know, I had seen him only a moment prior, and I was like, oh, where is he? Got up, walked out there, and immediately saw him in the pool. And then he described rescuing Trigg from the water. So when asked by the interviewer Dana how long it typically takes to feed the infant, Brady said 15 to 20 minutes. And

he estimated that Trigg was outside for about three minutes from the time he exited the house to when he was found in the pool. And Brady added, per the report, I was home alone. I had both kids, and so I knew I needed to obviously be tending on both of them. So Trigg wasn't ever out of my sight for long, but I mean, he abruptly ended that sentence there. Now, something else of interest that comes up in there. Did Trigg Kaiser know how to swim? Well, according to Emily, Trig had taken swim lessons, but he didn't fully know how to swim. And she explained that while Trigg knew how to swim to some extent and could climb the pool wall, the area where he fell in did not have a wall to climb out from. And the surveillance footage related to the incident is included

in this case file too, but it remains fully redacted. However, Detective Reitz conducted a second interview with Brady Kaiser after noticing or apparently noticing discrepancies between Brady's account and the video evidence. And while the exact nature of what these discrepancies are is unknown due to all the redactions. The detective focused especially on Brady's earlier statement about where he saw Trigg outside. The report reads, I asked Brady about his statement that he looked out when Trigg first went outside and what he saw. He claimed he saw Trigg off in the grass by the diving board. I challenged Brady about that statement because Trigg never went into the grass area. He responded, that's my best recollection of that. I stressed that what he was telling me and what

was on the video are different. Brady responded by saying, I truly have nothing. that I'm trying to withhold or hide in any way, shape, or form. All I've ever tried to do is recount to the best of my ability what occurred. And he recognized that he doesn't know exactly what happened with Trigg outside. And again, stressed that he was watching his kids, but at the time was focused on the then-infant child. Now, during dinner, before Trigg went outside, Brady told police they were watching a basketball game on TV. And the detective pressed on this detail and asked what Brady was doing while Trigg was outside. side. Quote, we spoke for several minutes about the amount of time Trigg was outside,

about 10 minutes, and what Brady was doing during that time. He insisted that he wasn't on his phone, and even though the basketball game was on the TV, it's not where my focus was, it was on my baby. For the record, the game that was on the TV was game four of the Knicks and Celtics. It was still on the TV when officers arrived and could be seen on BWC, meaning body-worn camera. And we mentioned earlier that Brady had apparently told police that he was sitting in a chair facing the backyard, but it seems like the detective challenged that. The report reads, quote, I told him that he had previously stated he was sitting in the chairs to look out toward the backyard, but he was sitting there. Those chairs are visible on camera D-O-6. He responded, I was sitting on the couch.

After being prompted by his attorney, he described sitting on the west side of the couch facing the TV with the sliding glass door to his right. So this arguably calls into question whether Brady's distraction was truly the infant child or the basketball game. That's going to be a question when anybody sees this reporting. Now, Detective Reitz also reviewed Brady's cell phone records from May 12th, uncovering additional details related to this basketball game. And the report appears to indicate that Kaiser had used his phone to place a bet on the game that he was watching during this critical time before the drowning. The report reads, The first file contained the single line.

It indicated that a $25 wager was placed on Jason Tatum scoring more than 40 points. Jason Tatum is a player on the Boston Celtics. That wager was a winner, paying $102.50. This wager was placed at 2014 hours eastern time, 1714 hours Arizona time. Now, this is important to know because there could be a lot of misinformation about this. This wager was apparently made more than an hour before Trigg was believed to have drowned. Now, at the conclusion of this second interview, Detective Reitz made a few key determinations. One being that Trigg was in the backyard for a full 10 minutes before Brady found him,

longer than the three to five minutes that Brady was telling to police. And per the report, quote, 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. Trig was in the backyard from 1829-42 hours until Brady found him in the pool at 1839 hours. He was in the water from 183215 until 1839.7. It is clear Brady's attention was divided, and he was not watching Trigg at all during the critical times mentioned. During two interviews, he did not know what Trigg was doing before he fell in, and he did not

see Trigg struggling to swim. So this alleged timeline, right, these allegations compounded with the pool safety net not being in place, Trigg's limited swimming ability, statements that he believe conflicted with video evidence. Detective Reitz concluded that Brady was unaware of what Trigg was doing at the time. He submitted the case to the prosecutor's office for review under an Arizona statute concerning child abuse through criminal negligence. And per the police report, that is defined as a person fails to perceive a substantial

and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstances exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. Now, importantly, while Detective Reitz reached this conclusion, he emphasized that he doesn't believe this was intentional or a failure to act. On the contrary, he noted that Brady responded immediately upon discovering Trigg in the pool. And as mentioned earlier, the case eventually landed on the desk of Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, where it remained under review until July 25th when her office announced that it would not pursue charges against Brady Kaiser. And that decision was based on what they described as insufficient evidence to,

secure a conviction. And in a public statement, the office said earlier this month, the Chandler Police Department submitted the case for review, recommending that Kaiser be charged with one count of child abuse, a class four felony. Kaiser was home alone with his two children when his three-year-old son Trigg Kaiser drowned in the family's backyard pool in May of this year. Surveillance video from outside the home showed how the drowning occurred and the actual timeline of events. In order to convict a person of this charge, the state has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a unanimous jury that the person failed to perceive a substantial and justifiable risk, and that failure to perceive the risk was a gross deviation from

the standard of care a reasonable person would show. Every case submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is evaluated using the same standard, whether there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction. After careful review of the evidence submitted by Chandler PD, it was determined this case does not meet that standard. And in response, the Kaiser Family's attorney, Flynn Carey told ABC News, we are grateful to law enforcement and the county attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and confirming that this was a tragic accident. Brady remains in the midst of the grieving process and is thankful to be with his family as they heal together. We appreciate the compassion and support shown during this difficult time. And by the way,

this report follows a recent victory for the Kaiser family on August 8th when the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County granted Emily Kaiser's request to redact two pages of that police report. And Emily's attorney said that those pages contain sensitive details surrounding this tragedy. Shannon Clark, attorney for the Kaiser family said, we're grateful to Judge Witten for carefully balancing the important interest at stake in allowing a narrow but meaningful redaction of the Chandler Police Report, removing two pages that detail the graphic final moments of Trigg's life. These redactions do not alter any material facts of the accident, but they protect the dignity of a little boy whose memory should reflect the love and light he brought to the world.

From the start, this case has been about protecting Trigg and the family's ability to grieve privately. This decision allows them the public to remember him for the beautiful life he lived, not the tragic way it ended. And before we go any further, let me just say, no matter what you think about this case, this is heartbreaking. This is devastating for that entire family, including Brady, okay? No other way to look at it. This shouldn't have happened. This is horrible at it happened, and now their lives will never be the same. They do have to go through this grieving process, and at the same time, they have to deal with a lot of public attention on this. So, One of the things we're hoping to do is if there is a lot of misinformation about this case,

and there's a lot of people making comments on it, we're just looking at what the actual filing say and do not say. All right. So now I want to bring on Kurt Altman. So Kurt is in Arizona criminal defense attorney, former federal and state prosecutor. Thank you so much for coming on. This report's significant. I mean, investigators, they lay out how Brady Kaiser allegedly gave conflicting accounts of where he was sitting, what he saw.

If we start there, how much do you think these inconsistencies matter legally? Are they red flags? Are they signs of just a traumatized parent trying to remember a chaotic moment? Well, Jesse, I think, I mean, I think we talked about this before, right? We kind of kind of speculated that the police maybe had a different timeline or saw some discrepancies in the father's statement, therefore thought charges should be brought. in a child abuse case, often law enforcement tries to lock in a statement from a suspect or a parent or whoever it may be and then kind of work backwards and see if that statement

is consistent with all the other physical evidence. It seems here that the Chandler police felt that there were enough inconsistencies to show that he was trying to hide something or cover something up and wasn't totally honest with them. And the stuff about the wager, I mean, that's pretty significant. I think it's significant. But if I read it, correctly. The wager took place while Emily Kaiser was still at home. But then he indicates that he's watching the Celtics and the Knicks play basketball. So again, I'm speculating a little bit here, but I imagine the police with the timeline and with the physical evidence they had concluded that he was watching basketball instead of watching his kids because he made that wager and was interested

in the game. And therefore, they felt it rose to gross negligence. But the prosecutors, the prosecutor's Disagreed. Right. Proving that is totally different. Great theory, right? But proving that in front of a court, in front of a jury of 12 people, probably impossible next to impossible. Why do you say that? Because let's be clear about something, right? I'm not saying someone should be charged or not be charged. But, you know, there's more information that's come forward in this report. We're trying to understand what the prosecution's decision was here. Why is it impossible to prove a case like this? You know, I probably jumped saying impossible, but very, very difficult because I think, as we even talked about before, this is a traumatic event for everybody involved. He's trying to make a statement about what happened and what he remembered pretty quickly after he just found his son floating in a pool, which had to be devastating. I'm sure he didn't write down. In fact, I think even in the report somewhere, he says something, well, I wasn't watching the clock, but here's how much time lapsed. His memory might not be perfect.

He's in a panic state. He's probably in some sort of shock. So, yes, you can rely on those statements to an extent, but they're probably not something the prosecution was comfortable with relying on, relying their whole case on. And that's why probably one of the reasons they didn't file. Well, the surveillance footage was redacted publicly. Detectives, though, they say, in their opinion, it contradicts Brady's version of events.

You have this situation where investigators noted that the pool net was off. The door alarm wasn't functioning. The child may not have known how to swim. No one is saying, and potential charges never said, that Brady caused or intended for the death of his son, obviously. But if we're talking about criminal negligence, if we're talking about what the legal duty is for a parent, are those factors significant? But like you said, they don't rise to the level of being able to succeed. prosecute. Yeah, I think that's probably what the prosecution thought here. Even given all those facts, if they're all proven true in front of a jury or wherever it may be, it might be as simple as

looking at it and going, yeah, not the best, probably a mistake. That was an accident. This is a tragedy. It just doesn't, in our eyes, rise to the level of criminal negligence, enough so to bring child abuse charges. This report coming out is obviously going to raise a lot of comments, a lot of questions. Is it going to put pressure on prosecutors to reverse course? Have you seen something like that happen? I mean, she's a significant figure. How much pressure, if any, does all of this put on prosecutors? I think the county attorney, Rachel Mitchell, will receive a lot of pressure and probably is receiving it right now saying now that this reports out, you did the wrong thing. Would she reverse course? I think that's unlike.

unless more and significant evidence is developed, which doesn't sound like it's going to be the case. This is the hardest thing for a prosecutor to do, to decline a case made harder by the fact that this is a child death, right? Horrific. It is the most difficult thing, though, for a prosecutor to look at it, fairly evaluate it, and go, we just don't think there's charges here that we can bring. It's very easy for a prosecutor to go, we'll just charge the case and see what the jury does. That's simple. It takes all the pressure off them. It's not what happened here. And Rachel Mitchell made it very courageous, if I can use that word, decision in this. So you believe the prosecutor got it right in this case. This is the right decision at this point

in time. Based on what I see, I think that's the right decision. I mean, what comes from prosecuting Trigg's father in this? What comes from that? And because it's such a close call and because it's so difficult to present and probably prove, it just doesn't make sense at this point. Let them suffer their grief without this hanging over their head as well. I think it was the right decision. Kurt Altman, thank you for taking the time. Appreciate it. Jesse, thank you. Appreciate it. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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