The son of Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson dies in a hospital after suffering from injuries which are resulted from apparent assault.
- Oct 12, 2013
AceShowbiz - Adrian Peterson's 2-year-old son died on Friday, October 11 in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, hospital following an alleged abuse, police said. According to USA Today, Joseph Robert Patterson, who dates the boy's mother, has been charged with aggravated assault and battery on an infant and he may face additional charges. If convicted on both charges, Patterson will face up to 40 years in jail and $80,000 fine.
The Minnesota Vikings star took to Twitter to thank teammates and fans for their support without mentioning the incident. "Thank you to my family, my fans and fans of other teams for their support. The NFL is a fraternity of brothers and I am thankful for the tweets, phone calls and text messages from my fellow players. God Bless everyone and thank u so much," he wrote.
Many celebrities took to Twitter to offer condolences. Josh Duhamel wrote, "I can't even imagine what @AdrianPeterson is going thru right now. My heart is with his family," while LeBron James said, "My deepest condolences goes out to Adrian Peterson and his family! Sending prayers up for you homie! Nothing I can say can help u through.."
Snooki also mourned the death of the boy, writing, "My Prayers to Adrian Peterson and his family...as a parent I couldn't imagine, god bless you and your family." Chris Brown added, "My prayers go out to Adrian Peterson and his whole family. Love u bro."
Authorities received a call from Patterson on Wednesday. In the phone call, he said that the child was choking. "As officers and first responders got there, they found child was unresponsive and he was taken to the hospital," police's spokesperson Sam Clemens said.
"So 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," Clemens continued.
"The injuries they found were head injuries. It was obvious to medical staff that abuse had taken place and that those injuries weren't accidental," the spokesperson explained. The boy's mother was "gone for a short time, and that's when we believe the injury occurred," Clemens added.
