The shocking Ray Rice scandal has dominated much of American news coverage this week, making many forget about the games that were due to be played. However, late last night further scandal erupted. Mark Berman, a reporter for a Fox affiliate in Houston reported that Adrian Peterson, star running back of the Minnesota Vikings had been indicted for “negligent or reckless injury to a child” - his four year old son.
Ray Rice was quite a big name in the NFL, even casual fans would probably know his name, however Peterson is a bona fide star. He is perhaps most remembered for his 2012 season, when he returned from a torn ACL and MCL which he had torn on Christmas Eve in 2011. Peterson ended the season as the unanimous NFL MVP, and came an agonising 9 yards short of the NFL Single Season rushing record, held by Eric Dickerson.
Peterson is a freak of an athlete, blessed with tremendous power and phenomenal speed. He has been dubbed “All Day”, for his dogged determination and willingness to continuously take the ball on play after play. There is no question that he is the most gifted running back to play the game in the last ten years, his ability to remain at the top level unmatched. He is a supremely talented player, but this is not the first time his character has been called into question.
Last year, the mother of one of his children criticised how uninvolved Peterson was. Peterson had previously been seen as a likable man and was held up as one of the NFL good guys, overcoming many personal tragedies such as the death of his brother in the buildup to the NFL draft in 2007. In addition, one of Peterson’s young children was tragically killed last year having been assaulted by the boyfriend of the child’s mother. Peterson had never met the child in question.
The alleged abuse incident occurred in May this year. The boy in question pushed another of Peterson’s children off a motorbike video game (the type you see in arcades). To punish the child, Peterson grabbed a branch (Peterson referred to it as a “switch”) from a nearby tree, and used it to strike his son repeatedly. Peterson stated that he “swatted” his son “10 to 15” times. Peterson admitted that this is not the first time that he had “whooped” his son on the backside as a form of punishment, following an altercation with another child, Peterson punished his son in a similar fashion, while also stating he has used such methods on his other children as well. The shocking images of the damage caused to the child's legs have been widely circulated on social media.
Peterson felt his actions were justified as he know what his intent was, also noting that “being spanked has helped me in my life”. It shows that while Peterson did stress that he was sorry for the incident in question, it does show a certain culture of spanking still exists in some parts of America. This was alluded to by Rusty Hardin, Peterson’s attorney: “He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas”.
What is perhaps most startling is the testimony of the abused child. He claims that “Daddy Peterson hit me on my face”, also fearing that his father would strike him in the face should he report the incident to anyone. He further added that his father has a “whooping room”, and “there are a lot of belts in Daddy’s closet”. How much can be gleaned from such testimony is uncertain, but it certainly casts doubt on Peterson’s claims that he would never go overboard when disciplining his children.
Peterson has not tried to hide away from any of these claims, he turned himself in to Montgomery County Police in Texas this morning and posted a bond of $15,000 for temporary release. He has seemingly co-operated with authorities so far, voluntarily testifying before a grand jury for several hours. With further pending legal action that could certainly be looked on favourably by authorities.
With the knowledge we have of the Ray Rice dealings, the NFL and perhaps his team the Minnesota Vikings could penalise him harshly. In a time of crisis for the league they may decide to take another big stand with a lengthy suspension. Peterson was deactivated for this Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, so will take no part but that is of course not his biggest concern at the moment.
It appears that no trial date has been set, at the moment, but Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, has had previous dealings with athletes. He successfully defended disgraced baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, who was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice following an investigation into steroid use in baseball. Peterson has admitted he did not intend to strike his child so fiercely, but according to his attorney, they will aggressively pursue these charges. This one could take time to develop.
