Report: AP has been indicted on negligent injury to a child

[hawk45]

You both are spot on that reactions differ.

I have a MUCH stronger reaction to this. I suspect many parents will as they picture their kid in the situation.

With that as a backdrop, I just go nuts, and I don't feel it's a gimme at all that Rice did worse. She was defenseless compared to him, yes. But she was an adult, with a helluva lot more in the way of defense and choice than a 4 year old kid who worships his absentee Dad. She continues to exercise that choice to be around him, and no way is that the first time he's raised hands to her. She isn't to blame, he is, but she at least has had opportunity to avoid harm and not exercised that option.

That kid was probably over the moon at just seeing his Dad. If there is a bigger disparity of power on the planet than that situation I don't know what it is.

See, I'm getting emotional here and proving your point. We're all in agreement f** both of these scumbags with a rusty chainsaw.

I can easily see how this can be considered worse. The only reason I'm saying that I think the Rice situation was worse is that there was malice involved in what he did. I don't know as of now, that there was any malice in the AP situation. It was definitely wrong and it was definitely abuse, but I don't think he picked up the switch thinking "I want to hurt this child" whereas Rice had to have intent to hurt when he closed his fist and swung.

both situations are bad and both deserve severe discipline from the league and the justice system, but I think intent has to be taken into account here. At least for me.

I would rather neither one of these situations ever happened.

You make a great point about intent, it's a big part of it. For me, I'm not ready to accept that Peterson was serenely doling out measured punishment here, though. That's his story, that he texted to the Mom after he realized oh crap I just whipped my kid bloody. I agree that Peterson didn't make a rational decision to hurt his kid, but I think it's quite likely he was pissed and hurt the kid in anger and for me that's not much better.

 

[kidhawk]

You make a great point about intent, it's a big part of it. For me, I'm not ready to accept that Peterson was serenely doling out measured punishment here, though. That's his story, that he texted to the Mom after he realized oh crap I just whipped my kid bloody. I agree that Peterson didn't make a rational decision to hurt his kid, but I think it's quite likely he was pissed and hurt the kid in anger and for me that's not much better.

On this we can both agree....there was no call for what either of these guys did.

 

[valleyflyfisher]

Peterson needs some punishment and education, but I honestly think he was just doing to his son what was done to him when he was young. I really hope we don't all have to bring out our pitch forks for him too.

So you get raped as a child and that somehow gives you a free pass on raping as an adult? People get your head out of your azz' s. He deserves MORE than what Rice got. How in the world can anyone condone what he did to a 4 year old? This is not a case of a spanking to discipline the child, this was a whipping carried out by a physically imposing man on a little toddler not even of kindergarten age, he whipped the child's back, legs, arms, butt and even, as Adrian said to the child's Mother, I accidentally got him in his nuts too....WHAT the hell! And now reports that he had stuffed the kids mouth full of leaves prior to the beating.....just think about that for a minute and tell me that it isn't as bad as the Rice incident. IMO, it is 100 time worse than what that spineless Rice did. AP needs to get the F out of the league and never show his abusive face in public again.....scumbag in the first degree.

This isn't rape first of all; thats a complete false equivalency. If this was how he was regularly disciplined as a child I could easily see him doing it to his kid. Especially since he turned out to be a famous multimillionaire. He probably thought "what worked for me will work for him". It's not an excuse, its an explanation. Just because people don't act this way in your circle doesn't mean its not normal behavior in others. Hopefully he'll learn his lesson and other will learn from this.

BS....there are many instances of people who were sexually abused as children who then as adults do likewise, many use the same excuse as you seem to think makes it ok to wail on a small defenceless child.....it was done to me as a child, so I thought I was ok too....really? AP has a university education no? He has travelled around a fair bit no? He watches TV and can read I assume......he bloody well knows what he did was wrong and knew so while committing the crime. I can only imagine how horrific the video of this would be if there was one.....you think the Rice video made you sick, just visualize the scene in All Day's backyard that day.

 

[salamander]

That sort of explanation doesn't even fly when we're talking about people who use racist words nowadays for Pete's sake, damn sure doesn't fly here.

Another false equivalency. Not using racist words has been in public discourse for a long time. It most of the country everyone knows you don't do it. The "correct" amount of physical punishment you should give your child is typically not in public discourse and not universally accepted. From initial accounts this was not a case of losing his temper and striking the child, but of disciplining his child; and it sounds like he was doing what he was taught to do by his upbringing. If you look at twitter, there are a lot of people saying their grandma would be arrested right now. I think, again, instead of pitchforks and outrage, this is a great opportunity to teach people to prevent this from happening again. BTW I don't believe in ever physically harming a child, and I'm not even a fan of AP.

 

[salamander]

BS....there are many instances of people who were sexually abused as children who then as adults do likewise, many use the same excuse as you seem to think makes it ok to wail on a small defenceless child.....it was done to me as a child, so I thought I was ok too....really? AP has a university education no? He has travelled around a fair bit no? He watches TV and can read I assume......he bloody well knows what he did was wrong and knew so while committing the crime. I can only imagine how horrific the video of this would be if there was one.....you think the Rice video made you sick, just visualize the scene in All Day's backyard that day.

Huh? No one ever said rape was ok; and no one raped would ever think that it's ok to do to someone else. Corporal punishment is a different story though. Your grandma didn't rape you, but your grandma may have gave you a whoopin'. Its completely different.

 

[hawk45]

That sort of explanation doesn't even fly when we're talking about people who use racist words nowadays for Pete's sake, damn sure doesn't fly here.

Another false equivalency. Not using racist words has been in public discourse for a long time. It most of the country everyone knows you don't do it. The "correct" amount of physical punishment you should give your child is typically not in public discourse and not universally accepted. From initial accounts this was not a case of losing his temper and striking the child, but of disciplining his child; and it sounds like he was doing what he was taught to do by his upbringing. If you look at twitter, there are a lot of people saying their grandma would be arrested right now. I think, again, instead of pitchforks and outrage, this is a great opportunity to teach people to prevent this from happening again. BTW I don't believe in ever physically harming a child, and I'm not even a fan of AP.

Regardless of how AP was brought up, the way you stop this and send a message that this behavior isn't okay is by dropping the hammer on him to let him know he'd better fight those urges, wherever they came from, because it isn't acceptable.

No way AP was thinking about what was best for his kid while stuffing leaves in his mouth and whipping him. He was pissed off and didn't control his anger. He doesn't need to be educated about why it was wrong in a classroom setting, he knew it was wrong because he texted the Mom to soften it after he woke up from his fugue.

And yeah, people know it's not okay to use a negative word about someone but they don't know they can't whip their kid bloody, right. I'm sure education and understanding is the answer here.

 

[Polaris]

Regardless, even if it was just a 'spanking' (and we don't know that)...

Marks were to the buttocks, thighs, and lower back.

Not what I meant which is why I used the word 'just'. There is a right and wrong way to apply physical punishment, and right now we still don't know all the facts. The fact the DA went Grand Jury fishing after being no-billed the first time is troublesome. Given the visual evidence I fully endorse what the Vikings did, but I am doing my best to keep an open mind which the Vikings actions have made easier.

 

[pmedic920]

I was not bragging about the way I was disciplined.
I was never beaten but I did get "whooped" a few times.
In cases that involved my 4'11" grandmother I got hit with whatever she grabbed first. Might be her shoe, a wooden spoon or a belt.
I got "hacks" from coaches or principles in school.
As I got older an became a smart ass, my mother said she would knock my teeth out if she had to, told me that's why I had dental insurance.
I was NEVER abused physically.
Times have changed and the line between abuse and acceptable punishments have changed.
My daughter now almost 22 yrs old was spanked 3 times in her whole life. All before she was 5 yrs old. Every kid is different and some respond to spanking and some don't. Every kid has a form of currency and when you figure out what that is, discipline becomes much easier and required much less.
In this story there is way to much that we don't know to even really form an educated opinion.
I'm going to reserve mine until I know more.
I do know that none of the discipline I received either physical or other, harmed me in any way.

 

[Rocket]

Knowing Goodell, his ruling will be a barometer of public outrage.

Brilliant !!
Bravo

 

[irocdave]

This is a touchy subject for every parent. I am in no way defending AP, honestly didn't know about the leaves in the mouth thing but any time people try and rally the masses via online media I just see ignorant people claiming holier -than -tho mentality. Most of our life experiences are NOT cut and dry, especially at the time that a major event happens. It always nice to look at things in hindsight but to do that from the outside (online forums like this) and take pot shots with little to no experience with situations real time is just plain ignorant, self centered and childish. JMHO.

Parents have a right to discipline their children. People that are not the parents of said children can be vigilant but they are not the parents and they have their own thoughts, morals and parenting philosophy on parenting. I say this having a real life experience with one of the "doo good'rs that imposes their opinions where they shouldn't) call CPS on my wife for forcefully pushing one of my sons back in a car seat when he was 3. Cops showed up at our home, took a report, a CPS person stopped by and interrogated us then told us it was a waist of his time. Nothing to see, no reason for being there. My oldest son was going through a phase of head butting (broke my wifes nose twice) and hated the car seat. She HAD to push him back in to the seat and restrain him. This is the BS that parents fear from the "do goodders" that don't understand every kid isn't the same as theirs and or better yet, don't have kids but want to impose their "opinions" on parenting. is ee some of that in the previous posts....You know who you are.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Knowing Goodell, his ruling will be a barometer of public outrage.

Can you show me a CEO of a corporation with an eight-figure salary that doesn't succumb to pressure from public outrage about something? Serious question. I'm not even sticking up for Goodell here, I swear - but it's pretty common for heads of companies to cave to public outrage about anything that becomes a major hot-button issue, no?

 

[ivotuk]

What were the circumstances of the injury? Was Adrian swinging for the butt while the kid swung his arm back to protect his butt?

I wouldn't judge anything here until the full story is out, and Adrian is cooperating fully. But i've gotten worse crashing my bicycle when I was a kid.

And my dad whooped me when necessary. Like when I stole a bunch of eggs from the commissary then egged the cook with them, the same cook that was giving my dad free groceries to feed his kids with...never did that again.

 

[Sports Hernia]

This is so bizarre. Guessing AP plea deals this down to community service and probation and the NFL hands a 4 game suspension with time served for Vikings internal discipline.

(Oh and hooray fantasy football picks!)

Maybe he can call up the Santa Clara prosecutor?
Oh a serious note, what in THEEEEE hell is going on in the NFL lately?

Got a feeling with the avalanche of bad news the NFL owners and what's left of the commish's office will come down hard on AP (as they should), as he may be DONE after this!

I think the "you don't crap on the shield" mentality is going to be ten fold now!

 

[huskylawyer]

I'm not so sure AD is going to be found guilty.

Americans in general overwhelmingly support spanking and corporal punishment (http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90406 - 65% of Americans approve spanking), and in the South or a place like Texas, even more so. My step-dad, a Vietnam vet and from Texas used a switch and I got my butt whupped. And you know what? I'm glad he (and my mother) did it. I was well behaved, didn't get in much trouble despite everyone else around me got into trouble, and they NEVER had to tell me something twice, as I feared the belt, ping pong paddle or switch.

But perhaps i'm just old school. My elementary school in Washington allowed the principal to spank the kids, but that was in the late 70s.

I'm not condoning leaving marks and seriously injuring your child obviously, but this isn't Ray Rice 2.0. I spank my daughter once every blue moon, i.e., once every 6 months or so (though I'm usually a "in the corner" type), and she is incredibly well behaved and attentive (unlike my sister's kids, who are coddled with no discipline and they are perhaps the most bad kids I've ever been associated with; just terrible).

Recently I went to a b-day party with my sister's kids, and it was embarrassing how bad they were in a public place (whereas my daughter was well behaved and did exactly what I asked). My mother babysits them, and she got in a big argument with my sister as one of my sister's kids disrespected my mom, and my mom threatened to spank them, which set my sister off. My mom pulled me aside and told me what happened, and said, "if those kids disrespect me again, I'm going to smack the @#$@#$ out of them."

I love my mom.

 

[ringless]

I doubt AP ever plays a game again after seeing the photos....

Yes he went to far but I still feel for the guy. He has gone through a lot this year. His child was killed by another man. He has also seemed of high character. A hard worker. It's unfortunate to see one of the greatest go down in this fashion over a poor choice.

This season has started off like no other. And it really does make me sad to see so man people that worked since their childhoods to live these dreams flush them down the toilet with bad choices.

I wish this season was about football. Not abuse, drugs, dui's, and goodell

 

[huskylawyer]

I doubt AP ever plays a game again after seeing the photos....

I'm not so sure about that. Unlike Ray Rice, on Twitter he has A LOT of supporters and people arguing that corporal punishment is ok. In certain states in the South, public schools actually allow administrators to spank kids.

He'll be fine if the Twitter Mob doesn't get to him.

 

[SmokinHawk]

No big deal. As a child, I was given frequent beatings. Just look how I turned out. :179417:

 

[Seahwkgal]

I was given whoopin's as a child. I deserved every one too. However, I never had a bruise or bleeding. My mom had one of those paddles(very thin wood) that stung like heck when it hit your bare skin. She also used wooden spoons. She never hit our faces. It was usually our fannys or the back of the leg. My father would just open hand whoop the butt or do a "Dutch Knuckle" when we were acting up.(Dutch Knuckle is a quick knock on the top of the head that really stings but does not bruise). There was also the pinch on the back of the arm used very effectively during church when we were not being quiet during sermons. I open hand spanked my son on the appropriate buttocks area too and even stuck soap in his mouth when he was caught saying the MF word.
I think most people who were disciplined in this manner turned out for the better. I know I did.
However, what I saw in those photos was not discipline. It looks like abuse. If a parent is drawing blood......Wow, just wow. Poor kid. He probably didn't learn a thing from that either.

 

[huskylawyer]

One thing that bothers me is it took the prosecutor two grand juries to get an indictment. Prosecutors brought the case before a grand jury, and they declined to indict. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...rges-werent-pursued-by-grand-jury-first-time/

Then Ray Rice happened, they refiled, and got the indictment.

I'm not a criminal lawyer, and not sure how it works down in Texas, but that is odd.

With Hardin (a GREAT trial lawyer) as his lawyer, and a Texas jury, I'm not so sure he will be convicted. Get a few rural Texan farmers with 8 kids, not sure the prosecutor is going to get a unanimous guilty verdict by a jury in "rough and tough" Texas.

Will be interesting for sure.

 

[Lxx]