Adrian Peterson professed his innocence after being arrested Sunday on a felony domestic violence charge.
The NFL running back was in Los Angeles for pregame Super Bowl festivities and was returning to Houston for a planned Super Bowl party. The plane had pulled out of the gate at Los Angeles International Airport but turned around and returned to the gate, so police could remove Peterson from the plane.
Peterson said he got into an argument with his wife on the plane but denies he did anything that warranted an arrest.
“I was literally mind-blown that they took me to jail,” Peterson told Mark Berman of Fox 26. “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 blames a passenger behind them for exacerbating the incident, and he hopes charges will be dropped.
“Only thing I will say is it looks horrible because Adrian Peterson arrested for domestic violence,” Peterson told Berman. “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 played in three games for the Titans and one for the Seahawks this season. He has previously played for the Lions, Commanders, Saints, Cardinals and Vikings. He was ineffective in limited action in 2021 and his NFL career likely has come to an end.
