Adrian Peterson's wife defends him amid arrest: 'At no point did he hit or strike me'
Adrian Peterson and his wife Ashley have responded to his arrest for alleged domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday, with both denying that he struck her.
Airport police confirmed that Peterson was arrested Sunday morning on a felony domestic violence charge for an incident on a plane departing Los Angeles International Airport. Peterson's representatives later confirmed that Peterson and Ashley were involved in "a verbal argument on a flight" and that he was removed from the plane.
Ashley defended Peterson on Instagram on Tuesday.
"On Sunday, Adrian and I had a verbal argument," Ashley wrote. "Unfortunately, it was on an airplane. At no point did Adrian hit or strike me."
Ashley's statement follows up an interview from Peterson on Monday declaring that "I don't hit women."
“It’s blown out of proportion," Peterson told Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston. "Me and the wife got into an argument on the plane. That was pretty much the gist of it. I ended up grabbing her hand and taking her ring off her finger. She didn’t press any charges. The state of California pressed charges because there was a scratch on her hand.
“I don’t hit women. It’s not that type of situation, and it just looks bad. I’ll deal with it, and God willing get the charges dropped and move on.”
Police records obtained by the Washington Post on Sunday state that Peterson was released on $50,000 bond and scheduled for a hearing at LAX Superior Court on June 16.
Peterson faced a felony child abuse case in 2014 amid allegations that he beat his four-year old son with a tree branch referred to as a switch as a form of discipline, leaving injuries to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum, according to a police report.
Peterson's attorney Rusty Hardin argued at the time that Peterson "used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas."
Peterson reached a plea deal in the case, pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault, reduced from his initial felony charge of reckless or negligent injury to a child. Peterson admitted in a 2018 interview to continuing to spank his son "with a belt" and used "different ways" to discipline his children.
