Suspended Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson broke his silence with his first comments since being indicted and pleading no contest to child abuse charges after hitting his four-year-old son with a wooden switch.
“I won’t ever use a switch again,” Peterson told USA Today. “There’s different situations where a child needs to be disciplined as far as timeout, taking their toys away, making them take a nap. There’s so many different ways to discipline your kids.”
Peterson said that he is extremely sorry for what he did to his son.
“No one knows how I felt when I turned my child around after spanking him and seeing what I had left on his leg,” Peterson said. “No one knows that Dad sat there and apologized to him, hugged him and told him that I didn’t mean to do this to you and how sorry I was.
“I love my son. I love my kids, my family. Like I said after I took the misdemeanor plea, I take full responsibility for my actions. I regret the situation. I love my son more than any one of you could even imagine.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a disciplinary letter to Peterson that he had failed to show "meaningful remorse."
“Ultimately, I know I’ll have my opportunity to sit down with Roger face to face, and I’ll be able to say a lot of the same things that I’ve said to you,” Peterson said. “Don’t say that I’m not remorseful, because in my statement, I showed that I was remorseful. I regretted everything that took place. I love my child, more than anyone could ever imagine.”
Whether Peterson will play again for the Vikings if he's reinstated remains unclear.
"Maybe it's best for me to get a fresh start somewhere else," Peterson said. "I would love to go back and play in Minnesota to get a feel and just see if my family still feels comfortable there. But if there’s word out that hey, they might release me, then so be it. I would feel good knowing that I’ve given everything I had in me.”
"I would have to get back in the community and get a feel. I know who loves me. The coaches and the players, it’s not going to be a problem. I’ve felt so much support from those guys. The organization, I know there’s people in the organization that support me and there’s people that I know internally that has not been supporting me.”
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Aaron Wilson covers the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun