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N.F.L. Rocked Again as Adrian Peterson Faces a Child Abuse Charge

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was the N.F.L.’s most valuable player in 2012.Credit...Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Steve Eder and

A warrant for the arrest of Adrian Peterson, one of the National Football League’s top stars, was issued Friday after he was charged in a child abuse investigation in Texas, the latest criminal case to rock the country’s most popular sport.

The charges against Peterson, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings regarded as one of the best in history, came after the police investigated claims that he had abused his son while disciplining him with a switch, or a small tree branch.

Peterson, through a lawyer, quickly sought to play down his behavior, saying he had engaged only in stern parenting.

“Adrian is a loving father who used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son,” his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said, adding that Peterson, 29, had experienced such discipline as a child in East Texas. “Adrian has never hidden from what happened.”

The news of Peterson’s indictment comes barely two weeks into the N.F.L. season and at a time when the league is reeling from controversy. The N.F.L.’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, has been under siege over his handling of a domestic abuse case involving another star running back — Ray Rice, who on Monday was released by the Baltimore Ravens. The release of footage of Rice punching his fiancée, who is now his wife, prompted the N.F.L. to suspend Rice indefinitely, after initially giving him a two-game ban. It also led the N.F.L. to order an outside investigation into how league officials investigated the case.

The league has allowed San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald, who was arrested in late August after an altercation with his pregnant fiancée, and Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy, who is appealing his July conviction on two domestic violence charges, to remain on the field.

The Vikings, who play host to the New England Patriots on Sunday, said Peterson had been deactivated and would not play in the game. He has cooperated with law enforcement in the case and testified before a grand jury for several hours, Hardin said.

The Vikings said in a statement that they were “in the process of gathering information regarding the legal situation involving Adrian Peterson.” They deferred questions to Hardin.

An N.F.L. spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Depending on the outcome of his case, Peterson could be penalized by Goodell, who has wide discretion to discipline players who violate the league’s personal conduct policy. Two weeks ago, Goodell, in response to criticism that he was too lenient in the Rice case, strengthened penalties for players involved in domestic violence. Under the new rules, first-time offenders will automatically be suspended for six games.

The police in Houston and Eden Prairie, Minn., and the sheriff’s office in Montgomery County, Tex., were involved with the Peterson investigation. None of them would release the police report or discuss any details of the case Friday. Some news media outlets published information from a police report obtained from anonymous sources.

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As of Friday, Peterson had not been arrested, according to a statement from the Montgomery County sheriff's office.Credit...Steve Dykes/Getty Images

CBS Houston, citing law enforcement sources and police reports, said Peterson beat his 4-year-old son with a tree branch in Spring, Tex., in May, causing cuts and bruises in several areas of the boy’s body, including his back, ankles and legs. Peterson told the police that the punishment was a “whooping” administered after the boy pushed another of Peterson’s children.

As of Friday night, Peterson had not been arrested, said Lt. Brady Fitzgerald of the sheriff’s office in Montgomery County. The sheriff’s office said that a grand jury on Sept. 11 had true billed — essentially indicted — Peterson on the injury to a child charge, which is a felony. It was unclear whether he could face jail time, or how much, Fitzgerald said.

Messages with the Montgomery County district attorney’s office, which presented the case to the grand jury, were not immediately returned.

Peterson missed training camp practices on Aug. 20 and 21 for what the team called personal reasons. He did not play in any preseason games. In last Sunday’s season opener, he ran for 75 yards on 21 carries in a 34-6 victory at St. Louis, a performance he called mediocre.

On Friday, Peterson practiced before news of the indictment broke and did not appear upset, laughing and joking with teammates. The day before, he took part in warm-ups but sat out the main part of practice; Vikings Coach Mike Zimmer called it a “veterans’ day.”

Peterson, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, has rushed for 10,190 yards and 86 touchdowns in eight seasons. He has also caught 208 passes for 1,715 yards and five scores. He is a two-time N.F.L. rushing champion who set the league single-game record of 296 yards as a rookie in 2007. His mark of 2,097 rushing yards in 2012, the year he won the league’s Most Valuable Player award, ranks second in N.F.L. history to Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 in 1984.

But Peterson’s personal life has included multiple tragedies and interactions with law enforcement. As a 7-year-old, Peterson watched a drunken driver strike and kill his brother Brian, then 9, who was riding a bicycle. Peterson’s father, Nelson, spent almost seven years in prison for laundering money from selling crack cocaine.

A half brother of Peterson’s, Chris Paris, was shot and killed in Houston the night before Peterson attended the N.F.L. combine in 2007.

In July 2012, Peterson was charged with resisting arrest outside a nightclub in Houston, not far from his off-season home. Peterson and Hardin, who has also represented high-profile athletes like Roger Clemens, disputed the Houston police’s version of events, and a grand jury declined to indict him.

And last October, Tyrese Ruffin, a 2-year-old son Peterson did not know about until a few months before, was killed in Sioux Falls, S.D. Joseph Robert Patterson, the boyfriend of Ruffin’s mother, awaits trial for murder next month.

Peterson, who has two surviving children, married his longtime girlfriend, Ashley Brown, last July.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: League Rocked Again as Star Faces a Child Abuse Charge. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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