New Jersey dad Christopher Gregor says his six-year-old son died from pneumonia, not brutal gym sessions where he forced him to run or the beatings doctors suspect happened afterwards

A New Jersey father accused of abusing his 6-year-old son to death claims the child died of pneumonia, not brutal training and alleged beatings.

Christopher Gregor, 31, is charged with murder over the 2021 death of his son Corey Micciolo, with a forensic pathologist previously ruling the boy’s death a homicide caused by blunt force injuries.

Prosecutors allege Gregor punched and bruised his son, causing fatal injuries, and his ongoing trial features sickening footage of Gregor forcing his son to run on a treadmill as he continually falls off.

Claims that the sadistic training contributed to Corey’s death were refuted by Gregor’s lawyer, who insisted the tragedy had “absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill.”

Corey Micciolo, died in 2021 after years of alleged abuse, with a forensic pathologist ruling he died as a result of blunt force trauma

In a sickening CCTV video shown during Gregor’s ongoing trial, Corey was seen continually falling off the treadmill as Gregor kept picking him up and putting him back on the machine.

Corey tragically passed away on April 2, 2021, after waking up from a nap stumbling around and slurring his words. Hours later he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Three weeks earlier, on March 20, 2021, surveillance footage showed Gregor taking his son to the Atlantic Heights Clubhouse fitness center, with Corey later saying it was because his father thought he was “too fat.”

He was seen forcing Corey onto the treadmill and increasing the incline and speed, causing the young boy to fall several times.

Gregor continued to pick up his son and forced him to keep running, despite Corey falling off the machine several times.

In his opening statement, Gregor’s attorney Mario Gallucci admitted the jury would be “horrified” to see the footage, but argued it did not contribute to Corey’s death.

“You’ll be terrified,” he warned. “(But) Corey’s death had absolutely nothing to do with that treadmill.”

In emotional testimony from Corey’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, who was involved in a bitter custody dispute with Gregor at the time of her son’s death, she said she noticed bruises on her son after training.

“He had a bruise on his forehead that was a very strange shape, it looked like an imprint,” the mother said through tears.

She added that he also had other cuts on his body, including one on his chest that “looked like an abrasion.”

Corey told a doctor that his father made him undergo the grueling workout because he thought he was “too fat.”

Corey’s mother Breanna Micciolo was the first to testify in court on Tuesday. She sobbed and wiped at her eyes as she watched the disturbing video of her son at the gym

Micciolo was the first to testify against Gregor, crashing into the stand while watching the harrowing video of her son in the gym.

In her testimony, she reportedly admitted that she and some friends vandalized Gregor’s parents’ home after Corey’s death, including throwing eggs and dead fish at the property.

A pediatrician examined the injuries, and although they said the mother had nothing to worry about, she testified that Corey told the doctor he was being forced to run on the treadmill “because he was too fat.”

Micciolo also reported the injuries to an employee of the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency, with Corey’s death coming just one day after the court denied an emergency petition seeking custody of her son.

She warned authorities back in July 2020 that her son would return from his father’s home with black eyes, bruises, abrasions and even “bite marks.”

Gregor was arrested three months later on charges of child neglect, with his arrest warrant citing the gym’s surveillance video as the reason for the arrest.

“Specifically by having (Corey) run on a treadmill and increasing the speed, causing (Corey) to fall, and placing (him) back on the moving treadmill while appearing to bite his head, causing the said child to falls a number of times,” the order read.

Days after the gym visit, the boy’s mother, Breanna Micciolo, who shared custody of Corey with Gregor, saw her son’s injuries and reported them to a caseworker with the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

Gregor, 31, was initially charged with child abuse before the charge was escalated to murder nearly a year after his son’s death

A forensic pathologist ruled that Corey’s cause of death was homicide due to chronic child abuse, including blunt force injuries to his abdomen and chest, and a laceration to his heart.

The boy was also found to have heart and liver bruises with inflammation and sepsis.

Although Gregor reportedly claims his son died due to pneumonia, it is unclear whether medical staff diagnosed this at the hospital, where Corey also suffered a seizure during a CT scan.

On March 9, 2022, almost a year after his son’s death, Gregor’s charges were increased to murder.