Hannah Hiatt, an influencer on TikTok, is being investigated after police and Child Protective Services received reports over video she shared of her son flinching in an interaction with his father, which went viral, People reports.
“There is a detective assigned to the case,” a spokesperson for the Ogden, Utah Police Department said to the outlet. They added, “there is an open, active investigation” into the TikToker, who goes by @hannah_bhiatt on the site (she previously posted under @nursehannahbh.)
The police spokesperson did not detail the investigation nor said if it would provide updates to the proceedings.
According to the department, the investigation came about after reports were filed to Child Protective Services and the police department after Hiatt posted a video, which has since been deleted, where Hiatt’s son James appears to quickly flinch and conceal his face while his father walks in his direction.
The clip reportedly drew criticism from TikTok users, prompting Hiatt to post a video in response. She began by saying, “So the fact that I have to even address this right now is kind of insane.” She goes on to call her husband the “”sweetest, nicest, kindest, most loving, most nurturing father in the entire world.”
She added, “In the video that you guys are all freaking out about, they’re just playing. They’re always playing where they scare each other. … that’s what they’re always doing.”
“Nothing’s going on,” she continued. “From the moment that my husband wakes up in the morning, to the second he goes to bed, he is only thinking about our children and our family and what’s best for us.”
In another video response, she addressed being compared to former mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, who was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison after being convicted of four counts of second-degree felony child abuse. “It’s hilarious really,” Hiatt said of the comparison. “We live in a world nowadays where people will turn nothing into something. We live in a world where people are so desperate to become TikTok famous, they will post about anything in order to get views for themselves. They don’t care if it’s going to bring someone down with it, they just want to become TikTok famous,” she added, explaining that her kids are healthy and happy. “They are well-nourished, they’re running around playing. That should be a pretty good indicator that everything’s just fine,” she said.
In a previous video of Hiatt’s that went viral, she was blasted for a clip she shared of her counting 17 dirty diapers scattered around her house, which she shared after her first day solo parenting both of her children a month after giving birth. “It’s embarrassing, I know,” she said in that clip.
