Adrian Peterson on Monday shared his side of the domestic violence incident that made headlines on Sunday.
Peterson was arrested for suspicion of felony domestic violence after an altercation with his wife on a plane Sunday morning. Peterson was removed from the plane and taken into custody. He was charged with domestic violence.
Peterson responded to the incident in comments provided to Fox 26 in Houston’s Mark Berman. Peterson told Berman his mind was blown that he got arrested. He said he and his wife got into a dispute, and that the mark that was left on his wife was on her finger.
“I was literally mind-blown that they took me to jail,” Peterson told Fox 26’s Berman. “They were like, ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Peterson, but because she had a scratch on her finger, (in) the state of California, we have to take you in.’ I sit there and watch the plane pull back and take off and I’m just like, ‘Wow! I cannot believe this is happening right now. I’m going to jail, and I literally didn’t do anything.’
“It’s blown out of proportion. 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. Literally that’s why I went to jail, because the ring left a scratch on her finger. We just had a disagreement. I know the headlines: Domestic violence. You’d think I beat her up or something. It was nothing like that.”
Peterson said that another passenger sitting behind them on the plane played a role in the arrest.
“Only thing I will say is it looks horrible because Adrian Peterson arrested for domestic violence,” Peterson said. “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.”
Peterson was in Los Angeles for a Super Bowl party and flying home to the Houston area. The veteran running back turns 37 next month. He played in four games this season — three with Tennessee and one with Seattle. He played in 16 games the season before for the Lions.
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