2-Year-Old Son Of NFL Star Adrian Peterson Hospitalized After Alleged Beating

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Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson left the team and travelled to South Dakota yesterday to deal with a horrifying family emergency. Details are still fuzzy concerning what exactly happened, but apparently, his two-year-old son was attacked during a vicious domestic violence incident. He’s since been taken to the hospital, and while an official status hasn’t been released, sources close to the situation are saying the poor kid is in rough shape.

According to TMZ, twenty-seven Joseph Patterson has been arrested in connection with the incident and charged with aggravated felony assault and battery of an infant. He’s the new boyfriend of Peterson’s baby mama. He called police on Wednesday evening to report a choking incident involving the child, but after the toddler was rushed to the hospital, doctors noticed injuries consistent with abuse. That’s when the police became involved and sadly, the suspect’s history of domestic violence incidents emerged.

The Argus Leader was able to obtain records indicating Patterson has been hit with at least three protective orders by two different women over the last decade. The incidents have allegedly involved choking, punching and threats with a knife.

The child, who is not Adrian Peterson Jr who frequently appears at Vikings training camp, is said to be in critical condition with “severe head injuries”. Exactly what that means is unclear, but regardless, Pop Blend’s sincerest thoughts go out to the little boy and his entire family during this troubling team. Every single child in the entire world deserves a safe place to grow up in. He or she also deserves the freedom to cry and be difficult because that’s what children do. Abuse is never, under any circumstances ever acceptable. Hopefully, a full investigation in conjunction with the hospital leads police to figure out exactly what happened and administer the proper form of justice.

Update: The child was later taken off life support and quietly passed away in the hospital. Pop Blend's sincerest thoughts go out to the entire family.

Mack Rawden
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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.