Local News
Update: Adrian Peterson's 2-year-old son is dead after assault
Peterson missed practice to be with boy
Update: The 2-year-old son of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has died from head injures.
Police think the child's mother's boyfriend, Joseph Patterson, is the one who committed the abuse and he has been taken into custody.
Original: Peterson’s father Nelson confirmed the situation saying “we are asking for prayers and for respect for our family as deal with this tragic situation.”
The little boy was alone with his mother’s boyfriend Joseph Patterson when the incident occurred.
Police in Sioux Falls, S.D. confirm the two year old was taken to the hospital after Patterson called 911 to say there had been an accidental choking.
TMZ is reporting the former Oklahoma stars son is on life support with no signs of brain activity since Thursday night. They also report the child is not Adrian Peterson Jr,
Other reports from the Twin Cities say this child was known to Peterson but was not publicly known to be his son.
Peterson missed practice Thursday to be in Sioux Falls and will speak to the media Friday afternoon to update the details.
Sioux Falls police officer Sam Clemens told USA TODAY Sports "as officers and first responders got there, they found child was unresponsive and he was taken to the hospital."
Clemens went on "they ended up calling police about that or letting them know. We had detectives talk to quite a few people to try to figure out what happened. What they ended up finding was that when the injuries happened there was one person with that child, and that person was Joseph Patterson."
After an investigation Patterson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on an infant.
The boy is still in the hospital with his condition listed as critical.
"The injuries they found were head injuries," Clemens grimly noted. "It was obvious to medical staff that abuse had taken place and that those injuries weren't accidental."
This isn’t the first time Patterson has had trouble with the law.
He has had protective orders placed on him twice after accusations he punched and choked a former girlfriend and threatening her with a knife.
