Last week, Adrian Peterson was indicted for reckless or negligent injury to a child. It was reported that Peterson took a switch to his four-year-old son back in an incident in the month of May which resulted in some rather serious injuries.
The beating allegedly resulted in numerous injuries to the child, including cuts and bruises to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum, along with defensive wounds to the child’s hands.
The Vikings held Peterson out of Sunday’s contest against the Patriots, but the team has since reinstated Peterson and he should be available for Week 3. This caused some understandable outrage and Peterson has since released a statement on the matter. He acknowledges that he’s doing this even though his lawyers advised against it (why anyone would go against their lawyer’s advice in something like this is beyond me).
My attorney has asked me not to discuss the facts of my pending case. I hope you can respect that request and help me honor it. I very much want the public to hear from me but I understand that it is not appropriate to talk about the facts in detail at this time. Nevertheless, I want everyone to understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child.
I never wanted to be a distraction to the Vikings organization, the Minnesota community or to my teammates. I never imagined being in a position where the world is judging my parenting skills or calling me a child abuser because of the discipline I administered to my son.
I voluntarily appeared before the grand jury several weeks ago to answer any and all questions they had. Before my grand jury appearance, I was interviewed by two different police agencies without an attorney. In each of these interviews I have said the same thing, and that is that I never ever intended to harm my son. I will say the same thing once I have my day in court.
I have to live with the fact that when I disciplined my son the way I was disciplined as a child, I caused an injury that I never intended or thought would happen. I know that many people disagree with the way I disciplined my child. I also understand after meeting with a psychologist that there are other alternative ways of disciplining a child that may be more appropriate.
I have learned a lot and have had to reevaluate how I discipline my son going forward. But deep in my heart I have always believed I could have been one of those kids that was lost in the streets without the discipline instilled in me by my parents and other relatives. I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man. I love my son and I will continue to become a better parent and learn from any mistakes I ever make.
I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser. I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day.
I accept the fact that people feel very strongly about this issue and what they think about my conduct. Regardless of what others think, however, I love my son very much and I will continue to try to become a better father and person.
Those hoping for an apology are out of luck. Peterson states that he “never intended” to hurt his four-year-old son but he seems to remain adamant that his use of corporal punishment was justified. Instead, Peterson draws some line between “discipline” and “hurt”, a line which doesn’t really exist when a switch (a slim tree branch that is used to whip someone) is involved like it was in Peterson’s case. And while Peterson may believe that the way his parents disciplined him is one of the root causes of his success as a man, there are other ways to discipline a child that won’t leave such brutal marks. At the very least, Peterson acknowledges that he met with a psychiatrist who gave Peterson advice on “alternative ways of disciplining a child that may be more appropriate.”
Gonna let Chris Carter have the last word on this one, as his emotional plea on Sunday perfectly summed up everything that is wrong in this particular case:
.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
