Just hours after Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson apologized for injuring one 4-year-old son, KHOU-TV in Houston reported that he has also been accused of injuring another 4-year-old son. Both incidents involve Peterson allegedly injuring a young child while administering punishment.
Peterson, who was indicted in a child injury case in Texas on Friday, has also been reported to Child Protective Services over separate child abuse allegations involving another young son by a different mother, reported KHOU-TV in Houston on Monday. Citing text messages and photos allegedly sent by Peterson to the boy's mother, KHOU reported that the child in the second case was left with a scar over his right eye after an incident in June 2013.
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Citing unnamed sources described as being close to the investigation, TMZ reported that no charges were filed against Peterson in the alleged incident detailed by KHOU-TV because it was determined that the punishment administered by Peterson was "not impermissible."
Peterson's attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a statement to Adam Schefter of ESPN in response to the KHOU-TV report.
"The allegation of another investigation into Adrian Peterson is simply not true. The allegation is more than one year old and authorities took no action. An adult witness admittedly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son."
Earlier on Monday, Peterson was reinstated by the Vikings after being deactivated for the team's most recent game. The team sidelined Peterson following his indictment in a child injury case on Friday. That case stemmed from a May 2014 incident in which Peterson used a small tree branch to discipline his son. Addressing that case after his reinstatement, Peterson apologized for "the hurt I have brought to my child" but insisted that he is "not a child abuser."
Following the KHOU-TV report, the Vikings issued a brief statement, claiming previous knowledge of the 2013 allegations:
As part of the information we have gathered throughout this process, we were made aware of an allegation from 2013 in which authorities took no action against Adrian. We will defer any further questions to Adrian’s attorney Rusty Hardin.