14 DAY TRIAL // Just days after he was indicted for child abuse for beating his 4-year-old son with a tree branch leaving visible marks on his body, NFL player Adrian Peterson finds himself investigated for the same offense for a second time, again for abusing his children.
The new investigation aims to shed light on an incident that took place in June 2013 and that left his son with a big scar on his forehead. The investigation was started by Child Protection Services at the behest of the mother, who called them when the child showed up home with the big gash on his forehead.
The investigation is for an incident that occurred in 2013
Originally, Adrian sent his wife a text message that the kid hit his head on a car seat, but later he admitted that he was beating the child at the time. Seeing as how Adrian already has one strike against him for beating his child, the case seems pretty open and shut.
However, sources close to the investigation revealed to TMZ that the case was actually suspended because the investigation failed to prove that Adrian caused the gash on his child's head. Investigators are now saying that the child actually did hit his head on a car seat.
Adrian even got an adult witness to back up his claims. He conceded to the fact that he was beating his child at the time, but said that he never hit him on the forehead. Instead, the NFL player claimed that the kid accidentally hit his head while he was administering the punishment.
Texas law allows for “reasonable punishment” for children misbehaving
According to Texas law, this form of punishment is “not impermissible,” as parents are allowed to discipline their children using reasonable punishment. The witness is quoted as saying that the football player “did nothing inappropriate with his son.”
However, Adrian wasn't so lucky in the first investigation conducted over an incident that occurred in May this year and that left his child with scratches and bruises on his arms and legs. In that case, a grand jury from Montgomery, Texas, indicted the player for child abuse.
The entire incident was uncovered when his 4-year-old son went for a scheduled doctor's appointment. The physician was shocked to see the child's injuries and photographed them all after calling CPS.
The worst thing is that the player admitted to beating his son and claimed that it was something he would do again. Although he conceded he had gone overboard with the switch that time and felt bad about it (something he would later tell his wife in a message), he told the police he wasn't going to stop “whooping” his child, although he might refrain from using switches in the future.
The case has split audiences into two halves: one that blames the football player for using excessive force against children, and another claiming that whooping your child is normal and it's the best way to educate them.