14 DAY TRIAL // A player for the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson, has been indicted by a grand jury in Montgomery, Texas, for child abuse after it was revealed that he beat his 4-year-old son repeatedly with a tree branch.
This case comes just days after the NFL came into the attention of the press for another violent incident, in which player Ray Rice, a former running back from the Baltimore Ravens, was put on an indefinite suspension by the NFL for brutally knocking out his wife in an elevator scuffle back in February.
Child was beaten repeatedly with a tree branch by his father
Adrian Peterson, a 29-year-old football player for the Minnesota Vikings, has just been indicted for an incident that took place in May. Adrian admitted that he beat his 4-year-old son with a tree branch because he misbehaved.
The photos shown in court, and which also found their way into the media, show the extensive damage the beating left on the child's skin. There are numerous cuts, bruises and scratches left on the kid, as well as defensive wounds on his arms and legs.
According to CBS, the incident occurred when the child pushed his brother off a video game motorbike and thus caused a commotion. Adrian then proceeded to take a branch from a tree, remove the leaves from it, and repeatedly beat the child with it.
Child goes to doctor's appointment, the doctor finds the injuries and calls the police
The child's injuries were discovered by a doctor during a previously scheduled appointment, and he quickly came to the conclusion that the wounds were caused by child abuse.
Police later discovered incriminating messages on Adrian's phone sent out to his wife. In them, Adrian admitted to beating the child and even hitting him in the scrotum, but later feeling bad about it. He said that she was going to “be mad at me about his leg. I got kinda good with the tail en of the switch (sic).”
Adrian admitted to the beating, doesn't regret it, claims he'll do it again
He added that “Never do I go overboard! But all my kids will know, hey daddy has the biggie heart but don’t play no games when it comes to acting right.”
When police questioned Adrian's 4-year-old son, he confessed that there were “a lot of belts in daddy's closet” and that he often used them on him. Another report from the attack reveals that the football player actually stuck leaves in the child's mouth as he was beating him with his pants down.
Adrian later admitted in a police interview that he had given his son a “whooping,” and while he agreed that he went overboard that time, he didn't seem to regret abusing his son in general.
“To be honest with you, I feel very confident with my actions because I know my intent,” he told police officers, and claimed that the beating the child had received was “a normal whooping.” He couldn't offer an exact account of the times he hit his child with the branch, but claimed that it was likely “10 to 15” times, adding that he never counts “how many pops I give my kids.”
In the end, he also boasted that he was never going to stop beating his children because “I know ho being spanked has helped me in my life,” but he did add that he was going to reconsider using “switches in the future.”
Further details about the case have not been offered by police since this is an ongoing investigation, but they have confirmed that an arrest warrant for Adrian Peterson was issued.